Influence Operations Work

Some recent experiences have left me disheartened

This weekend, France holds its second round of legislative elections, with the far-right National Rally poised to secure a large number of seats. Many of you have asked me about Russian infiltration of the National Rally. As such, on Monday, I will post Class 18 of my Foreign Influence Operations course: The French Connection (to Moscow).

A friendly reminder that Rant! is a reader-supported publication. Thank you for making this newsletter possible!

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ALEX’S WEEKLY RANT

I was recently invited to speak about Russian influence operations at a few different venues. The various audiences had made clear they had heard a lot about Russian disinformation and were happy to finally have the opportunity to learn what it is and how it works.

Instead, these experiences proved a wake-up call, highlighting my own naiveté in assuming audiences understand a few fundamental facts.

The biggest problem I kept running into is whataboutism, people creating false equivalencies between what Western governments and journalists do and what autocratic governments do.

There is a difference between independent but imperfect journalism and state-run propaganda. The New York Times, Le Monde, the BBC, and most other “Western media outlets” are biased and make mistakes. However, they are independent from the government. They follow journalistic standards and generally are transparent about ownership, funding, and conflicts of interest. Regardless, they are not perfect nor are they unbiased. They make mistakes and tend to lean left or right on the political spectrum. The problem is getting more complex given recent financially-driven takeovers of many news outlets. The tendency toward owners who are either Western oligarchs or hedge funds has catalyzed a slide toward more biased news. But generally, if outlets are transparent about who funds them and the conflicts of interest that creates, they can still do decent journalism. Again, no news outlet is perfect. But it is hard to classify most of them as propaganda. See Class 17 for more on what makes for a good news source.

CLASS 17: VERIFYING NEWS SITES

State-run propaganda outlets, on the other hand, are exactly that: propaganda on behalf of a state.

Put simply, for all our complaints about Rupert Murdoch’s biased New York Post or “access journalism” at the New York Times, they are not RT (formerly Russia Today) or Sputnik.

There is also a difference between imperfect democracy on one hand and autocracy on the other. Yes, democratic countries make mistakes, sometimes go to extremes, suffer from corruption, and so on. But we try to learn and adjust to make up for those excesses. We debate, we reform, we create checks and balances. As Winston Churchill famously said: “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

The most fundamental reason democracy is the best system? The people choose their leader, and that leader is answerable to the people. The leader serves the people.

Autocracy is not imperfect democracy. It is dictatorship. One person calling the shots. There is no transparency. No accountability. The people are meant to serve the leader, rather than the other way around.

My audiences at these events seemed not to understand these differences. Surely I knew and understood the CIA (where I used to work) had overthrown governments and done its own influence operations. Why, yes! I do know that! Part of why I know that is because journalists are allowed to do their job and print such information. I’ve even written about Western excesses. But that history is irrelevant to discussions about how today’s Russian information operations pose a threat to Western democracy.

Some others explained to me that, given their difficult history with colonialism, they found it hard to trust Western media sources. I understand that, too, and told them so. But their solution was to listen to Russian media sources instead. No! This is the wrong response! Absolutely, we should all be critical of any information we consume (which is why I wrote class 17!). The idea is that we question information and sources to help us get to good information. The idea is not: Western influence is better than influence from the other side (or vice versa).

So, I repeat: Independent but imperfect journalism in the West is different than state-run propaganda from Russia or China, and imperfect democracy is not the same as dictatorship.

People need to understand these two fundamental facts if we are to build a media literate population, capable of responsibly consuming information.

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THE WEEK’S LINKS

A roundup of things you should be reading

EUROPE’S FAR-RIGHT

Chameleon complex: Europe’s far right is mimicking the fight for stability and justice—and it’s working (The Insider)

RUSSIAN SANCTIONS

The Magnitsky Case in Switzerland: Uncovering the Truth (Swissinfo)

RUSSIAN DISINFORMATION

A Bugatti, a first lady and the fake stories aimed at Americans (BBC)

RUSSIAN SABOTAGE

NATO Suspects Russia of Mining Critical Undersea Infrastructure (EU Today)

THE RESISTANCE

Russian defector involved in Russia’s Baltic Fleet vessel sabotage, military intelligence says (Kyiv Independent)

Crossing Thresholds: Ukrainian Resistance to Russian Occupation (CSIS)

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Alex Finley is a former officer of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, where she served in West Africa and Europe. She writes and teaches about terrorism, disinformation / covert influence, and oligarch yachts. Her writing has appeared in Slate, Reductress, Funny or Die, POLITICO, The Center for Public Integrity, and other publications. She has spoken to the BBC, MSNBC, CNN, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, France24, and numerous other media outlets. She was also invited once to speak at Harvard, which she now tells everyone within the first ten seconds of meeting them. She is the author of the Victor Caro series, satirical novels about the CIA. Before joining the CIA, Alex was a journalist, covering Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and the Department of Energy. She reported on issues related to national security, intelligence, and homeland security. Did she mention she was invited to speak at Harvard?

Look at that beautiful smile! I look pretty happy, too.