State Department official says unit that labeled U.S. voices was ended, pledges documentation and transparency

An official identified in the interview as “Mister Secretary” said the U.S. Department of State has ended what he called “government sponsored, censorship in The United States through the state department” and is moving to document past activity so people who believe they were harmed can seek redress.

The official described how an effort that began a decade or more ago to counter messaging from groups such as Al Qaeda and ISIS expanded after 2016 into actions that, in his words, targeted individual American voices. “By 2020, it had grown into this movement of, like, actually going after individual American voices,” he said, and he accused some funded third-party groups of “tagging and labeling voices in American politics.”

The official said the department has dismantled the program, altered how it spends money and will focus on “pro American messaging” rather than funding organizations that label domestic speakers. “To the extent we're spending money now, we are gonna spend money on…