Exhibit 869

Protecting and Championing Free Speech at the State Department (Press Statement, Secretary Marco Rubio)

Exhibit 869 · Agency press statement

Protecting and Championing Free Speech at the State Department (Press Statement, Secretary Marco Rubio)

this office, which cost taxpayers more than $50 million per year, spent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving.

Announces closure of the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference office (R/FIMI), formerly the Global Engagement Center, and says it spent millions of dollars to silence and censor Americans. The statement cites no document or case.

Source: U.S. Department of State
Date: 16 April 2025
Quoted from: Press statement, second paragraph
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://www.state.gov/protecting-and-championing-free-speech-at-the-state-department
Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20250417000000/https://www.state.gov/protecting-and-championing-free-speech-at-the-state-department
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit

Cited by

Finding POL-7.13: Primary record Congress created the State Department's Global Engagement Center in section 1287 of Pub. L. 114-328 (23 December 2016) to "recognize, understand, expose, and counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts." On 16 April 2025 Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the closure of the office, by then named R/FIMI, saying it "spent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving." The statement cites no document or case.