Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs

The Atlantic Council in 2012 honored Scowcroft’s legacy by relaunching its flagship international security program as the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, recently re-envisioned as the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

The Atlantic Council created the New American Engagement Initiative (NAEI) within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security to systematically scrutinize the critical assumptions that have guided US foreign policy, in some cases for many decades.

2018 - Facebook is partnering with the Atlantic Council in another effort to combat election-related propaganda and misinformation from proliferating on its service, specifically through Newsguard.

The social networking giant said Thursday that a partnership with the Washington D.C.-based think tank would help it better spot disinformation during upcoming world elections.

The partnership is one of a number of steps Facebook is taking to prevent the spread of propaganda and fake news after failing to stop it from spreading on its service in the run up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Additionally, organizations with ties to the Russian government distributed misleading information through Facebook ads in 2016 that were intended to sow divisions among Americans.

Facebook didn’t provide many details on how the Atlantic Council would help spot potential disinformation, only to that the think tank’s cyber forensic team would work with Facebook staff to deliver “real-time insights and updates on emerging threats.” https://web.archive.org/web/20180518012113/https://fortune.com/2018/05/17/facebook-atlantic-council-election-propaghanda/

Atlantic Council partnership with CIA front USAID for fighting propaganda -

This primer is compiled with the intention of helping USAID staff and partners to understand the basics of disinformation, how it is spread, why it is spread, and how programming can help reduce its damaging impact on societies around the world. It is organized into seven parts that each focus on illuminating the issue with insights from leading thinkers.

These insights are supplemented with resources, case studies, and examples to illustrate different dimensions of the problem and to enable readers to pursue deeper discussions and resources that can help their programs and projects. The primer and its many annexes can be used as a guide or reference, and its modular design can supplement training programs aimed at different aspects of the disinformation conundrum.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210518220105/http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00XFKF.pdf

The Atlantic Council’s DFRL is staffed by a team of “disinformation” specialists and former US intelligence establishment technology staffers. Its stated mission, as published on the website digitalsherlocks.com, is: “To identify, expose, and explain disinformation where and when it occurs using open source research; to promote objective truth as a foundation of government for and by people; to protect democratic institutions and norms from those who would seek to undermine them in the digital engagement space.”

Anyone familiar with the history and role of the Atlantic Council knows what this language from the DFRL really means. It has nothing to do with establishing objective truth or protecting the democratic rights of the people. These are the established euphemisms of US imperialism that have been used for decades to cover up CIA-sponsored skullduggery, assassination and political manipulation in every corner of the globe.

A review of the Atlantic Council, an organization that has largely escaped public scrutiny, and its 57-year record shows that it is a pioneer in developing and peddling the criminal operations of the US State Department and the Pentagon as furthering “democracy” and “human rights” around the world. It is also a training ground and revolving door for people in the foreign policy and intelligence establishment in Washington, D.C. as well as a conduit for former Pentagon brass into civilian business and government roles.

The current, honorary and lifetime Atlantic Council directors list reads like a bipartisan rogues gallery of American war-criminals, including Henry Kissinger, George P. Shultz, Frank Carlucci, James A. Baker, R. James Woosley, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, Robert Gates and Leon Panetta. Among the former Atlantic Council chairman have been Obama administration officials James L. Jones, (national security advisor) and Chuck Hagel (secretary of state). The chairman of the council is Brent Scowcroft, the retired US Air Force officer who held national security and intelligence positions in the Nixon, Bush I and Bush II administrations.

The Atlantic Council is funded by substantial government and corporate interests from the financial, defense and petroleum industries. Its 2017 annual report documents substantial contributions from HSBC, Chevron, The Blackstone Group, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Ford Motor Company, among many others. Also listed is Google Inc. in the $100,000 to $250,000 donor category. Among the largest council contributors are the US State Department, The Foreign & Commonwealth Office of the UK, and the United Arab Emirates. Other contributors include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Boeing, BP, Exxon and the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. https://web.archive.org/web/20180908090850/https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/09/08/atla-s08.html

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