By Friday, email me your next paper topic:
https://gov106.blogspot.com/2023/03/over-break-each-of-you-should-choose.html If you have questions or need suggestions, just let me know.
For Wednesday
Ben Freeman, "Foreign Funding of Think Tanks in America." Center for International Policy, Jan 2020,
In lieu of excerpts from Misfire, read this article by its author, Tim Mak:
- https://wapo.st/3FBcNUi
- https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/08/foreign-lobbyists-gave-millions-to-influence-2020-foreign-influence-concerns/
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The "natural born citizen" clause
The Citizen Genet Affair
Ban on Foreign Campaign Money ...but
No Ban on Foreign-Connected US Money -- more on Wednesday
The Citizen Genet Affair
Ban on Foreign Campaign Money ...but
No Ban on Foreign-Connected US Money -- more on Wednesday
Open Secrets
The LDA EXCEPTION Private entities like companies and nonprofits that would otherwise be required to follow FARA registration requirements may choose to instead register as a lobbyist with the House Clerk's Office and Secretary of the Senate so long as the agent has engaged in at least some lobbying activities that fall under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (LDA).
The LDA EXCEPTION Private entities like companies and nonprofits that would otherwise be required to follow FARA registration requirements may choose to instead register as a lobbyist with the House Clerk's Office and Secretary of the Senate so long as the agent has engaged in at least some lobbying activities that fall under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (LDA).
Media and Malign Foreign Influence
- Placing op-eds
- Open, disclosed ads
- Covert buys of social media (more on Wed)
- Influencers
- Payload content: Smart Banana (start around 9:00)
- State-run networks:
Flattering interviewees (an actual email to yours truly):
Dear John ,
I hope all is well.
I would like to introduce myself again. I would like to introduce myself. My name is XXX I’m an international producer for Russian Television - Channel One that based in Moscow, Russia. We also have offices in New York, Washington DC and Los Angeles. “Chanel One” is a number one broadcasting company in Russia and also very popular in Russian Community around the world. We have over 250 million audience in 190 Countries. Channel One is as big in Russia as CNN and FOX in US.
We have been working on our weekly news show "Sunday times" about Donald Trump's meeting with Putin. Our network's CEO Mr. Ernst asked me to contact you and include you in our show. He really would like to have you as a part of our show. You opinion is very important for Russian audience.
...
You are very well known in Russia. Russian politicians and regular people look up to you as a peer where they watch your interviews and follow you on social media for inspiring messages. It would be such an honor and pleasure to meet you in person and film an interview with you.
- An early example of foreign ties: Bahama and the drug trade
- Savimbi
- From a bipartisan report of the Senate Intelligence Committee:
Manafort hired and worked increasingly closely with a Russian national, Konstantin Kilimnik. Kilimnik is a Russian intelligence officer. Kilimnik became an integral part of Manafort's operations in Ukraine and Russia, serving as Manafort's primary liaison to Deripaska and eventually managing Manafort's office in Kyiv. Kilimnik and Manafort formed a close and lasting relationship that endured to the 2016 U.S. elections. and beyond.
...
The Committee found that Manafort's presence on the Campaign and proximity to Trump created opportunities for Russian intelligence services to exert influence over, and acquire confidential information on, the Trump Campaign. Taken as a whole, Manafort's high level access and willingness to share information with individuals closely affiliated with the Russian intelligence services, particularly Kilimnik and associates of Oleg Deripaska, represented a grave counterintelligence threat.
