House Government Operations & Military Affairs panel moves into executive session on S.23 synthetic media bill

The Vermont House Committee on Government Operations & Military Affairs moved into executive session Tuesday, May 27, to receive a sensitive briefing related to S.23, an act relating to the use of synthetic media in elections. Representative Matt Feierong, chair of the committee, made the motion citing the sensitive cybersecurity nature of the material to be discussed.

The session closed the public meeting after committee members introduced outside presenters from Norwich University Applied Research Institutes. "I move that the committee goes into executive session for the duration of this conversation," Representative Matt Feierong said before the committee voted by voice.

The committee said Norwich University researchers had been doing work on security issues related to synthetic media and elections and had been invited to present findings to the panel. Phil Sussman, identified as president of Norwich University Applied Research Institutes; John Kidder, director of information operations research at the institute; and Sherman Patrick, vice president for strategic partnerships, were introduced for the record during the public portion of the meeting.

Representative Lisa Hango, vice chair, and multiple committee members were present during the roll call and introductions. The motion to enter executive session was seconded; the chair called for the ayes and recorded those in favor. No roll-call tally or oppositions were recorded in the publicly available transcript.

The public portion of the meeting ended with the committee entering executive session to hear the sensitive briefing. The public transcript does not include the content of the closed session, and no subsequent public action on S.23 was recorded in the excerpt provided.