Krishnamoorthi, Carson Sound Alarm on Trump Administration’s Weakening of U.S. Defenses Against Foreign Malign Influence

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Ranking Member of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and Congressman André Carson, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the National Intelligence Enterprise and Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard expressing grave concern over the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) growing capabilities to conduct foreign malign influence (FMI) operations inside the United States, and the Trump Administration’s inexplicable actions to diminish the US government’s capacity to effectively track and counter such influence.

The lawmakers cited recent reports that the Chinese government is expanding its use of companies with AI expertise to conduct state-aligned influence campaigns. They also noted that the Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community, issued by Director Gabbard herself, which concludes that the PRC is “expanding its coercive and subversive malign influence activities to weaken the United States internally and globally.”

The lawmakers write: “To address the growing threat of FMI, the United States has, over the past years, developed a coordinated network of federal agencies and offices with requisite authorities and capabilities to combat this challenge. Yet instead of strengthening the US government’s proficiency on this front, the Trump administration has taken the opposite approach. 

The lawmakers continued: “Since assuming office, the administration has seriously weakened our nation’s ability to track and counter foreign interference by the PRC and other adversaries. 

This includes implementing severe staff cuts to the Foreign Malign Influence Center, dismantling the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, and firing or placing on leave dozens of officials at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The lawmakers are requesting written answers to the following:

1. Congress established the Foreign Malign Influence Center as “the primary organization in the United States Government for analyzing and integrating all intelligence possessed or acquired by the United States Government pertaining to foreign malign influence.” Why are you taking steps to hollow out the FMIC, despite the current threat environment?
2. Is the Trump administration concerned about the PRC’s expanding efforts to engage in FMI and foreign interference in our democracy? What specific steps is the administration taking to identify and counter these threats?
3. Is ODNI or any other US intelligence agency still tracking political, social, and economic interference activities in the homeland by foreign adversaries, including the PRC?
4. Why was the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force dismantled? In its absence, how can the FBI maintain its capabilities to investigate Chinese malign influence operations in the United States?

Read the full letter HERE. 

Read the report in The New York Times HERE.

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