In a shocking revelation that could have been plucked straight from a dystopian novel, it appears that the U.S. Department of State, under the Biden administration, was secretly monitoring American citizens. Yes, you read that right. Apparently, the State Department decided it needed a side hustle as Big Brother, keeping tabs on social media posts and identifying so-called “vectors of disinformation.” According to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, this clandestine operation was spearheaded by the Global Engagement Center, an entity that kept dossiers on Americans, including a certain Trump administration official—talk about snooping right from the government handbook!
As if it wasn’t enough that this Orwellian entity operated with impunity for who knows how long, it seems its very foundation was built on targeting specific voices, perhaps those conveniently labeled “disinformation” because they had the audacity to offer a different perspective. Now, an investigative journalist suspects that one of the people on this government’s naughty list could have been none other than Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a name that surely sends chills down the spine of any bureaucrat looking to avoid valid criticism. Evidently, keeping a dossier makes censoring much easier, especially when aiming to silence political arenas.
Congress, upon catching wind of this charade, ordered the bureau’s closure, only to have it sneakily renamed and its personnel shuffled around like a shell game. It’s the kind of bureaucratic wizardry that makes you want to tip your hat, if only it weren’t so infuriating. Thankfully, with the Senate’s insistence, there was no more shuffling and renaming—just a good, old-fashioned shutdown. Yet, as the saying goes, trust but verify. Citizens have every right to know how their thoughts and voices were policed, and one can only hope that this saga of defunct dossiers stays exactly that—defunct.
Further complicating matters is this question: Shouldn’t the State Department be focusing on diplomacy abroad instead of channeling its inner detective here at home? Perhaps they unwittingly confused “global engagement” with “domestic intel gathering.” Warning shots have been fired, or perhaps more appropriately, warning tweets sent. The use of governmental power to monitor and potentially silence those exercising free speech is about as un-American as apple pie without apples.
In a world increasingly reliant on speaking truth to power, there’s no better way to combat misinformation than with more speech, not less. Let each perspective be heard, and give the people the ability to discern truth from fiction. The truth rises in the open air of debate, not under the cover of secret files or state-sanctioned whisper campaigns. Now, as reassuring promises are given that this curious chapter is fully closed, one can’t help but wonder if we’ll be left to enjoy our right to free expression without the government squinting over our shoulders.
