Nina Jankowicz
- The Harry Potter superfan-turned-propagandrix is now the Biden Administration’s chosen head for the “Disinformation Governance Board”
- One cannot understand how the Disinformation Industry functions without understanding the little-known (and now defunct) Integrity Initiative
- In its organization, funding, operation, structure, and rhetoric, the Integrity Initiative is the single best template for understanding how the entire hornets’ nest of NGOs, journalists, and “national security” bureaucrats work secretly and in concert to wage psychological warfare against citizens of the West.
In 2018, Spain's ruling party attempted to appoint Pedro Baños as head of the country's national security department. The Integrity Initiative's Spanish cluster as well as several U.K. associates immediately leapt into action to sabotage the appointment of this allegedly "pro-Kremlin" official.
- The following document from the leaks details their efforts:
- Mid-day: (II) Integrity Initiative Spanish cluster hear that a well known pro-kremlin voice is to be appointed as Director of the National Security Department, which works closely with the Spanish PM’s office (La Moncloa).
- Spanish cluster leader alerts other cluster members and prepares a dossier to inform the main Spanish media and start a campaign on Twitter to try to prevent the appointment.
The NATO-funded Integrity Initiative, whose ostensible purpose is to "Defend Democracy Against Disinformation," was caught red-handed conducting a secretive influence operation to meddle in the internal politics of Spain, a democratic NATO member.
- Notably, the Integrity Initiative used Twitter as a theater for U.S., UK, and NATO-backed influence operations.
The Integrity Initiative’s funding comes from a Scotland-based non-profit, the Institute for Statecraft
- In its 2018-2019 fiscal year (running March 2018-March 2019), the Institute reported 2.2 million pounds in income.
- Besides receiving funds from the British FCO, the Integrity Initiative also received funds directly from NATO, the U.S. taxpayer, and the United States State Department.
- Funding wasn’t exclusively government-based, though, as the Institute did receive a small chunk of money from Facebook.
The Integrity Initiative was a secret, government-funded influence operation that engaged secret "clusters" of journalists and academics to coordinate in order to meddle in the political process of Western democracies under the guise of combating "disinformation" and "defending democracy."
- Not only was the Integrity Initiative funded by national security bureaucracies, it conducted itself in precisely the same surreptitious manner one would typically associate with the world of spooks and espionage.
- One leaked document advises its reader on how to go about recruiting people for a cluster. It reads far more like an intelligence document than a journalism-related one.
Integrity Italy
- The newly-formed Italian cluster is headed by an Italian professor who is also linked to the Italian Atlantic Committee.
- The sensitivities of the political situation in Italy, and the extent of Russian influence in political parties, means that the cluster must develop cautiously, feeling its way and seeking the best means of having a positive impact.
Czech Republic
- The Czech Republic is well served by the European Values think tank. It is more cost-effective to link with this organization and support its activities.
- Milos Zeman, the president of the Czech Republic, supported Donald Trump's rise in the U.S., and shared Trump's aversion to journalists.
The Integrity Initiative becomes even more suspicious when one looks at how its organizers reacted when hackers brought attention to their work.
- Before the 2018 document leaks, the Institute for Statecraft kept a bland website, hosting a handful of sponsored papers and similar work
- Shortly after the Anonymous documents leaked, the institute took down everything, leaving up only a placeholder with a contact form and a notice that it was "temporarily" removing its information "pending an investigation."
The Integrity Initiative may be gone, but the Disinformation Industry it helped to birth remains
- Censorship is far more than just woke employees at Big Tech companies deciding whom to ban and which topics become "trending"
- The censorship and narrative control are flowing from the state, taking the form of cutout civil society groups, NGOs, and “networks” that control domestic information under the pretext of preserving national security and fighting “disinformation”
- An entire industry has emerged to facilitate this process
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