Via the Kennedy Beacon on sub stack: In 2016, a seismic event reverberated through the Washington, DC, establishment: an anti-establishment outsider, Donald Trump, clinched the presidency. This unexpected victory sent shockwaves through mainstream media, the Democratic National Committee, and the DC establishment, all of which were quick to attribute Trump’s win to Russian interference, citing alleged hacks, online bots, and disinformation campaigns. However, subsequent scrutiny revealed these assertions to be mere propaganda, aimed at delegitimizing Trump’s presidency.
As the 2020 election loomed, the Intelligence Community mobilized to prevent a repeat of the 2016 upset. The question I’ve pondered for over a year now is: Why have tech giants like Google and Meta been on a hiring spree for ex-Intelligence Community personnel since 2018? The answer appears clear.
With a majority of the American electorate turning to social media as a primary source of news consumption, the CIA found itself compelled to orchestrate a modern-day Operation Mockingbird. This initiative encompassed not only the censorship of dissenting opinions but also the amplification of establishment narratives and the dissemination of various disinformation campaigns. In essence, they sought to control the flow of news on social media to influence electoral outcomes.
The timing and staffing changes within tech giants like Google and Meta after the 2016 election raise important questions. It’s hard to believe it’s just a coincidence that several CIA officers were put in charge of content moderation departments in these companies. Given the increase in aggressive censorship, it seems unlikely these appointments were random.
The number of former Intelligence Community staff hired by Google and Meta since 2018 is significant. Before then, there were only a few, but now the numbers are much higher: CIA – 36, FBI – 68, NSA – 44, DHS/CISA – 68, State Department – 86, DOD – 121.
Take Aaron Berman, for example. After spending 18 years at the CIA, he joined Meta in 2019. He played a key role in setting up Meta’s “Misinformation Department” and now heads Misinformation and Elections Content Policy. Find out more about Berman and other significant hires made by Meta in this article: