The State Department has received a congressional subpoena regarding records on programs alleged by Republicans to foster “censorship-by-proxy and revenue interference of American small businesses.” Issued by the House Small Business Committee late last Thursday, the subpoena targets documents and communications from the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC).
Beginning over a year ago, the House Small Business Committee’s inquiry into the GEC has focused on the State Department agency’s grant-making authority. Among these grants is a $100,000 disbursement to the London-based Global Disinformation Index (GDI). An affiliated nonprofit of GDI is registered in the United States, and it works to convince advertisers to avoid right-leaning media outlets.
The committee’s scrutiny of the GEC resulted in legislation last year preventing the Pentagon from funding groups like GDI. Subsequently, the Federalist and the Daily Wire, both right-leaning media, filed a lawsuit against the Biden government. Their complaint alleges the government supported one of the worst censorship initiatives in American history. Both Microsoft and Oracle cut ties with GDI earlier this year following backlash against the censorship group’s activities.
Led by Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX), the committee is requesting detailed financial documents from the GEC, including unredacted lists of grant recipients since 2019 and records of awards to entities like GDI and New York-based NewsGuard. However, the committee only received heavily redacted, nonpublic documents labeled as “sensitive but unclassified,” sparking accusations of obstruction from the Republicans.
A document from February 14, 2023, titled “GEC-GDI-BLACKLIST,” is believed to contain pivotal information for the committee. The subpoena specifies records pertaining to GEC funding awards since 2018 to nearly two dozen organizations, including GDI, NewsGuard, and Park Advisors. Additionally, Republicans requested information related to the Atlantic Council‘s lab and Albany Associates.