By Roger D. Harris and Joe Emersberger – Sep 5, 2025
President Donald Trump euphorically concluded his White House press conference on September 2 with breaking news: the US military had just blown up a small motor vessel in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. He alleged that the skiff came from Venezuela and was loaded with illicit drugs headed to the US.
All Elements in Place for a US Decapitation Strike on Venezuela
Tag: deepfakes
More notes on the marriage of RAND and SeaLight
Understanding and Countering China’s Maritime Gray Zone Operations | RAND
As noted, there appear to be real challenges working through the necessary technologies to support command messaging efforts from being able to acquire simple programs, such as Adobe [1], that can help improve image quality of released content to access to social media. It would seem prudent that an assessment of such issues should be conducted by the command with necessary remediation actions undertaken when the new commander comes into USINDOPACOM.
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The Global Engagement Center (GEC) at the U.S. Department of State [2], for example, partially funds the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative [Center for Strategic and International Studies]. The GEC, the State Department, or DoD should seek to identify other voices that can support and that can more credibly communicate key messages.
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US government asset, from PH, calling for censorship of US citizens
Maria Ressa is calling for the revocation of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Revoking Section 230 would increase social media censorship and remove competition for Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, and YouTube (Google). Why? Due to threats of being sued, social media companies could ‘hold’ your posts until approved by artificial intelligence or a human. They’d also be inclined to remove more content. As for competition, smaller companies can’t afford the legal teams and/or fees that large companies can. The lawsuits could bankrupt a smaller company. Considering that Rappler is also funded by Big Tech, I’m not surprised that she’s on their side. This isn’t about hate speech, or ‘disinformation’, it’s about controlling the narrative!
In this clip, she complains about being criticized for appearing with Clinton and for being accused of being a CIA agent and a Communist. Of course, she’s not going to mention why she’s been accused of being a CIA agent (because she’s been funded by the CIA-cutout National Endowment for Democracy and other front organizations)!
Related:
AI Briefing: Hillary Clinton and Google’s Eric Schmidt both suggest Section 230 reform
Some speakers — including Clinton, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa — also called on Congress to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Ressa, a journalist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, also noted it’s hard for people to know what it’s like to be a victim of online harassment or misinformation until they’ve been attacked.
Maria A. Ressa, LL.D. ’24, Harvard Commencement Address 2024
Communications Decency Act – Section 230
WikiSpooks: Rappler (Sponsored by Facebook, Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Google, Internews, National Endowment for Democracy, Open Society Foundations, Omidyar Network)
Biden Admin Awards Over $4 Million In Grants To Programs That Target “Misinformation” + Notes
Biden Admin Awards Over $4 Million In Grants To Programs That Target “Misinformation”
The State Department has awarded the following five grants since September 1:
An $18,000 grant to the Albanian-based non-governmental organization (NGO) the Institute for Democracy, Media, and Culture* to ensure a “whole-of-society response to cyber incidents and misinformation.” The associated program began on September 1, 2023.
A $14,500 grant to Paraguay’s American Cultural Center [Centro Cultural Paraguayo Americano] that will be used to implement workshops that “seek to combat misinformation and promote responsible digital citizenship.” The associated program began on September 1, 2023.
A $15,000 grant to the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at Udayana University to “raise digital literacy among selected amcors communities, journalists, and social media influencers to combat misinformation, pre-2024 general election.” The associated program is due to start on October 1, 2023.
A $50,000 grant to New York University to complete the implementation of a speaker series that supports “countering misinformation.” The associated program is due to start on October 1, 2023.
A $50,000 grant to the non-profit Digital Rights Nepal*** “to create a sustainable network of youth to promote digital rights, safer internet use and a collective resilience towards misinformation and disinformation.” The associated program is due to start on October 2, 2023.
***Digital rights are the new Internet Freedom (think Arab Spring).
Skeptical Notes:
Read More »‘Hunt Forward’ cyber teams have deployed to 24 countries, including Ukraine
The cyber defense teams monito crucial networks in allied countries. US cyber chief Gen. Paul Nakasone also said the NSA is centralizing AI-related missions.
‘Hunt Forward’ cyber teams have deployed to 24 countries, including Ukraine
Related:
NSA to stand up AI security center
Securing artificial intelligence entails “protecting AI systems from learning, doing, and revealing the wrong thing,” he said. “We must build a robust understanding of AI vulnerabilities, foreign intelligence threats to these AI systems, and ways to encounter the threat in order to have AI security. We must also ensure that malicious foreign actors can’t steal America’s innovative AI capabilities.”
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Asked about AI—including deepfakes—influencing voting in the upcoming 2024 U.S. general election, Nakasone said people need to practice vigilance, and that his team is making sure they “understand the threat techniques of our adversaries”—which the center will help them do
DOD Developing AI Weapons? Beware the Frankenstein Chatbots
Big Tech is rushing ahead of any legal framework for artificial intelligence, or AI, in the quest for big profits, while pushing for self-regulation instead of the constraints imposed by the rule of law.
DOD Developing AI Weapons? Beware the Frankenstein Chatbots
US developed AI tool to battle Russian disinformation Blinken
The Ukraine Content Aggregator is used to catch fake news and share data on it with foreign partners, the secretary of state says
US developed AI tool to battle Russian disinformation Blinken
H/T: Emil Cosman
Related:
Secretary Antony J. Blinken at Freedom House 2023 Annual Awards Ceremony
The third thing I wanted to highlight. While we’re working to promote access to the internet for all, we’re also working to address threats to human rights that come with an open internet, including online harassment, abuse, disinformation.
Now, online abuse doesn’t, of course, target only human rights defenders. Instead, the internet and digital technologies are often used to amplify attacks on vulnerable groups – women, the LGBTQI community, marginalized ethnic or religious groups – and undermine our broader fight for human rights. So this year, we launched what is now at least a 12-country Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse. We’re encouraging private sector to become engaged with us as well.
We’re also working to address the massive challenge of online misinformation and disinformation – again, something familiar to everyone in this room. To cite one example, of course, Russia continues to push a steady, relentless stream of disinformation about its war of aggression against Ukraine, to lie about and cover up horrific abuses it’s committed, to try to justify committing others.
In response, the State Department has developed an AI-enabled online Ukraine Content Aggregator to collect verifiable Russian disinformation and then to share that with partners around the world. We’re promoting independent media and digital literacy. We’re working with partners in academia to reliably detect fake text generated by Russian chatbots.
Army Info War Division Wants Social Media Surveillance to Protect “NATO Brand”
The U.S. Army Cyber Command told defense contractors it planned to surveil global social media use to defend the “NATO brand,” according to a 2022 webinar recording reviewed by The Intercept.
Army Info War Division Wants Social Media Surveillance to Protect “NATO Brand” (archived)
Zelensky regime leads request for social media platforms to censor “disinformation”
Ukraine has spearheaded a collective call to action, joining forces with seven other Central and Eastern European nations to combat “disinformation” on social media platforms.
Zelensky regime leads request for social media platforms to censor “disinformation”
Related:
Social media has become a potent channel for spreading false and manipulative narratives. Paid ads and artificial amplification on Meta’s platforms, including Facebook, are often used to call for violent social unrest, bring violence to the streets and destabilize governments.
Now, Kyiv wants to repeat the trick by starting an “Information Ramstein” to combat Russian disinformation on a larger scale.
Deep Background: In a letter written by Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko and addressed to the European commissioner responsible for transparency and values, Vera Jourova, he notes that “Ukraine is up against Russia’s vast and centralized information warfare and international influence machine, which includes assets from troll farms to state media, energy companies to corruption networks. Though it cannot compete in terms of scale, Ukraine does have one huge advantage: It can ally with its international partners to create coordinated, targeted, joint-influence operations.”
Pentagon Opens Review Of Its Clandestine Psychological Operations
The move came after a report on fake US military-linked accounts that were promoting pro-Western narratives on Facebook and Twitter
Pentagon Opens Review Of Its Clandestine Psychological Operations
Related:
Pentagon Opens Sweeping Review of Clandestine Psychological Operations
With the rise of Russia and China as strategic competitors, military commanders have wanted to fight back, including online. And Congress supported that. Frustrated with perceived legal obstacles to the Defense Department’s ability to conduct clandestine activities in cyberspace, Congress in late 2019 passed a law affirming that the military could conduct operations in the “information environment” to defend the United States and to push back against foreign disinformation aimed at undermining its interests. The measure, known as Section 1631*, allows the military to carry out clandestine psychologic operations without crossing what the CIA has claimed as its covert authority, alleviating some of the friction that had hindered such operations previously.
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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