Secretary of State Marco Rubio has officially ordered the closure of the State Department’s Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI) office, ending a controversial chapter in what he described as a “shameful” period of federally sanctioned speech suppression.
The move dismantles the only formal office in the department tasked with countering foreign propaganda but, as Secretary Rubio and many others have noticed, it had morphed into something far more troubling: a taxpayer-funded engine that repeatedly ended up silencing American voices.
“For centuries, the United States served as a beacon of hope for millions of people around the world,” Rubio said in a statement. “Over the last decade though, individuals in America have been slandered, fired, charged, and even jailed for simply voicing their opinions…That ends today.”
His decision to eliminate R/FIMI follows years of escalating concern over how programs meant to counter foreign disinformation have instead repeatedly targeted domestic speech.
