Thats important to all of us that are here and so many of our colleagues. Information is power today, and we see it all over the globe when its used improperly it is used as a weapon. Democracy requires wellinformed electorate to function properly but to undermine the principle through socalled Disinformation Campaigns designed to mislead voters and in doing so delegitimize the democratic elections. Actors like russia systematically exploit the media and to distort the truth to an unsuspecting populace with regards to the coronavirus and this information is being spread is a high degree and anonymous and again if left unchecked it could be devastatingly effective. I established this organization it could help lead to the global disinformation effort and work with International Partners. The Bipartisan Legislation within the state department is now the law and to get it up and going we will hear more about that today but we are pleased that we are making progress. They lead, synchronize and coordinate efforts in countering the states and nonstate propaganda and disinformation efforts. So, it is a broad and in work and mandate. Its a central message to create this issue against the falsehoods that affect the integrity of other democracies. We are pleased to have Peter Gabriel as our first witness. A former human intelligence Operations Officer for the Liaison Officer in the navy program director. Shes done all that within her short life so its very impressive that she is well experienced. We look forward to the assessment and budgetary requirements moving forward. I think its critical that we resource this important mission. We will have poly, im going to try this again i always call her alena. From the center of european policy analysis and Dan Blumenthal from the institute is at the expert witnesses as we have a serious discussion. Theyve testified before other hearings and today we will examine the democracies to put intentional sponsored information there are examples of this happening we have extensive documentation that russia conducted a coordinated campaign in the 2016 elections ukraine has been the subject in response to its efforts to break free we see the rise from the indo pacific and europe. This is a global problem and that requires a response. The security conference with some of my colleagues here we have a robust discussion about this and about the partnership in fighting disinformation. Today i want to dig deeper into the subject as well. With regard to the Indo Pacific Region it is a model for others to follow and how they manipulate or block information doesnt feed the desired narrative. Last i think its important that the u. S. Continue to be a world leader to combat this disinformation. To the other agencies weve established a close and effective relationship with our counterparts and the joint effort to gain traction elsewhere. The topic of disinformation is now a topic of discussion across the globe as they solve the conference in munich. To continue the leadership on this issue, we have to have effective organizations to coordinate the response this hearing will address so we can understand better and also make the gc even more effective. The problems caused by the deliberate statesponsored information are going to be here for a long time. They are not leaving. Tactics are inexpensive, effective and its critical that we understand the dangers and the best way to seize the initiative. I look forward to hearing from the witnesses in a moment and from the members of the committee, i now turn to the Ranking Member senator volker for his opening remarks. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. You can only get a hearing done that you and senator murphy and your extraordinary leadership in drafting the legislation that authorized if i understand correctly the executive order as to something that was established and i want to thank senator murphy for the leadership in many ways as a more Junior Member on the committee. This is a very bipartisan hearing. The concern in the mission is is organizations aorganization bute department refused to provide the committee with the witnesses requested and that is unacceptable to me. Its not the way we should be doing business. We have shared values and a shared understanding of the growing more sophisticated threats it is just unacceptable to me it isnt helping us to do the business of the people at protecting us and keeping us safe. And that brings me to where my thoughts are for the moment which is the aftermath of september 11 with the goal of reducing the influence and effectiveness of extremist groups that were seeking to harm americans. Today the scope of this work is incredible to me the scope beyond violent extremist groups and statesponsored propaganda is going to be an incredibly Critical Mission given the complex challenges. And as we are sitting here in this hearing there is widespread concern regarding the coronavirus at the time when people are worried in a vulnerable and we understand that in the context of this it is very profound. We have nothing to fear but fear itself, and that the additional threat of fear. The Washington Post has been reporting on the scott talking about the use of social media and the Conspiracy Theory put us out of danger. Its a coordinated activities responsible for pushing these dangerous falsehoods. One Conspiracy Theory is to attack people in this country to blame them bill and melinda gates. About this thread they find these lies is put out more danger and so this intentional desire to model the fact to undermine the security and safety to make us doubt the institutions. Ticket to the bottom of this information is exactly why it was created by congress but i have some questions about why go so far refused to comment about the report and other reliable news outlets are seeking to expose this so i hope to have that conversation as this goes on. Im also hoping to get to the bottom of the information that theyve uncovered about those that are spreading the falsehoods and what purpose and effect its already having. Russian interference demonstrate the dangers posed and we now know that the russians and other countries are trying to get better and better and more sophisticated at what they are doing. They are targeting democracies showing the sport through misinformation and attempting to weaken relationships between allies. Theres no reason to believe they are not going to continue to employ this playbook to get better at it than to seize any opportunities that the coronavirus to undermine the safety, security and our very bond here in the United States of america. While they dont have the authority over the homeland through the data and analysis collected on the techniques and practices, we know a lot more about what they do and to meet a lot of the challenges they present. I want to know how this is being shared with agencies including the department of homeland security, fbi and more. And while the u. S. Recently has began to see these threats, the neighbors have had the attempts to reverse the gains for years. We also know these efforts are not limited to europe and the United States. They are seeing this growing in africa. Moscows engagement fosters corruption especially in an already fragile african country. We know the activities are defined as part to weaken the u. S. Leadership in the region, but to undermine the very ideals of our democracy and others. Last year facebook identified accounts targeting eight african countries saying although the people behind these networks attempted to conceal the identity and coordination, our r investigation connected these two entities associated with a specific russian oligarchs who was described as the architect of russians interference in the 2016 election. China also has rapidly increased the use of influence tactics in the information space. It is clearly playing out in the misinformation space as well and so to me the task is considerable to lead efforts to counter propaganda from other organizations and countries. I look forward to hearing from both panels about how we as congress can continue to strengthen our work to make sure they are meeting what i believe is a growing threat tactic and techniques being used to undermine this country as well as critical allies and the stability and strength of people all around the country. Thank you again for being here and mr. Chairman, i turn it back to you you. Thank you. I appreciate those statements and we will get into more of the issues as we go forward. The first is mr ms. Gabriel, coordinator of the Global Engagement center for the department of state and all of your written record will be put in its entirety into the record. We ask that you limit your remarks this morning to five minutes coming up we look forward to your testimony, and then to asking questions. So, ms. Gabrielle, your Opening Statement. Thank you for inviting me to testify before you today. Im pleased to talk about the Global Engagement center. This is an important topic with serious implications for u. S. National security adviser she at the subcommittesheetthe subcomms time to it. We are dedicated to the mission of leading and coordinating the u. S. Government efforts to decisively exposed and counter before in state and nonstate disinformation propaganda. Secretary pompeo has called upon to employ a broad suite of tools to stop americas adversaries from organizing information and using propaganda to undermine the free society. Capabilities globally to ingest foreign propaganda. I worked to ensure mikey enter team has the necessary tools and resources by congress. At the state department chief conference, i spoke with the u. S. Ambassador who represents us around the world. I shared on threat assessment on this information propaganda and listen to their perspective on how developments are playing out on the ground. We at the gec recognize the crucial role that our missions and officers play on the front lines of the information battleground. My teams are working with embassies overseas and with the Department Regional bureau daily to execute and corny activities. Today i will outline how we view the disinformation of the kremlin and the Chinese Communist party are propagating. What were doing to counter each in the role that data and analytics play in our work. I will also describe the gecs role in court needed the government effort to respond to foreign propaganda in this information. I am also available to answer any questions about how the gec uses propaganda from terrorist organizations like isis as well as disinformation from the iranian regime. Lets start with the kremlin. The intent scope and style of this information propaganda spread by the kremlin and the Chinese Communist party are distinct from one another. The kremlin swamp the media environment with the tsunami of lies. Outside of russia the kremlin seeks to weaken adversaries by manipulating the environment and the various ways by polarizing political conversations. And attempting to destroy the publics fate in good government, independent media and democratic principles. To counter the kremlins disinformation, the gec is creating Strategic Partnership with Foreign Government to enable information sharing in the coronation that allows us to get ahead of the russian government Information Operation. The gec is providing support to our Mission Abroad and International Partners for wide range of efforts to counter the comments disinformation. This includes Civil Society groups in central and Eastern Europe that build resiliency in the communities. In running joint communication campaigns with allies to counter russian historical revisionism and to empower Fact Checkers in latin america to stem the surge of information in that region. With increased funding, we intend to provide more of this type of support to additional allies and partners globally so they can increase their own ability to resist the russian tactics. The investments we have made have also allowed us to expose elements of the russian government Information Operation ecosystem. This exposure inoculates audiences against the threat in critical. While moscow wants to rip enter disrupt the current order, the communist party seeks to shape it to beijings exampl advantag. Theyre pursuing a comprehensive court needed comprehensive campaign to advance interest and undermine the United States. But when you take a closer look, it is clear that many of the ccps action in the economic, security and human rights base our bill propaganda. The gec program is focused on puncturing the falseness. Our efforts to counter ccc propaganda to increase aspects of the belton road initiative. Increasing awareness of the problematic aspects of human rights abuses and elsewhere in china. As well as beijings abuse of open research and academic environment to achieve the military objective we also have programs to build global resilience to disinformation through Media Training and support investigative journalist and to map prc influence in the number information for future purchase. Beijing also wants to shape third country perspective of the u. S. Foreign policy. In order to restrict the space, wherccp up again it can take the route, oversees an effort to provide Accurate Information about u. S. Policies and the contribution of u. S. Businesses to the local communities. All of this our success depends on leveraging analytical tools as well as network, credible partners and local voices overseas and capabilities we are refining and expanding each day. My team and i are committed to the commission at Congress Task to the gec. In the modern age, the russian government, prc and other adversaries have clearly found ways to leverage new technologies to deepen and accelerate the impact this information propaganda can have. As always been the case, free nations must unite and Work Together to defeat the threat. I am here today that we are making progress. We are building up the gecs capability, crafting strategies tailored to the specific approaches of adversaries and most important link we are regaining the initiative. I thank you very much for the opportunity to testify today, i truly appreciate the subcommittee support for the gecs omission and look forward to answering your questions. Thank you and i appreciate your opportunity to share with us in more details in your Opening Statement. I got three colleagues who have scheduling conflicts and a couple republicans who will come back. Im going to take a minute now and ask questions after have a chance for the have to leave and what i want to talk about is coronavirus which is such a hot topic. In this very room we had a hearing earlier today, everything i guess you would call it was some of the nations experts on the issue, there has been some discussion in her Opening Statement about the fact there is information out there including groundless conspiracy theories being promoted and theres an analysis i saw that you believe there is evidence of an authentic incarnated activity concerning social media post in tweets, can you talk about the work they have done on this already in the disinformation on the coronavirus and the conclusions regarding the role of state actors in the falsehoods. Absolutely, thank you for raising this important issue. The coronavirus is an example of where we seen adversaries take advantage of a Health Crisis where people are terrified worldwide to try to advance their priorities. The gec has a robust analytics and Research Capability and we work with partners so we can use the highest Level Technology and the latest data science tools to assess the environment. We are watching the narratives that are being pushed out, false narratives around coronavirus. Unfortunately, weve been able to assess the account tied to russia, the entire ecosystem of this disinformation has been engaged in the midst of the world Health Crisis. One of the best practices encountering propaganda and disinformation is exposing it. So decreasing the vulnerability and audiences that are targeted and increasing resilience requires exposing disinformati disinformation, this is an example where the gec works with Public Diplomacy and affairs at the state department so we can get the word out and engage with the Media Organization to share some analysis that we had on what we see in terms of coronavirus. We sell the entire ecosystem at play. Russian state proxy website, official state media as well as swarms of online false personas personal false narrative. Exposing it by working with the media has built awareness around the issue so theres a lot of disinformation and right now i hope all actors will act in the most responsible manner to support people that are scared around the midst of this crisis. Exposing it is obviously critical in providing the counter narrative which is the factual narrative in the scientific narratives. We will have more time to talk about that and other issues. Im gonna do for to senator murphy again and i express my gratitude for his leadership on this and look forward to hearing his line of question. Thank you very much. Thank you to you for this hearing and thank you ms. Gabriel