An anonymous reader quotes the Washington Post:
Congressional negotiators on Wednesday approved an initiative to track and combat foreign propaganda amid growing concerns that Russian efforts to spread “fake news” and disinformation threaten U.S. national security. The measure, part of the National Defense Authorization Act approved by a conference committee, calls on the State Department to lead government-wide efforts to identify propaganda and counter its effects. The authorization is for $160 million over two years…
The Senate Intelligence Committee, meanwhile, has approved language in the fiscal year 2017 intelligence authorization bill calling for new executive branch efforts to combat what it characterized as “active measures” by Russia to manipulate people and governments through front groups, covert broadcasting or “media manipulation.” “There is definitely bipartisan concern about the Russian government engaging in covert influence activities of this nature,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. “If you read section 501 of this year’s intelligence authorization bill, it directs the President to set up an interagency committee to ‘counter active measures by Russia to exert covert influence over peoples and governments.'”
Several senators on the intelligence committee also asked President Obama to declassify any information relating to the Russian government and the U.S. election.
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