The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2021

90 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL state on notice that interference in our elections is not acceptable. The book lays out in crystal-clear fashion several measures that must be implemented or enhanced. With a plan that is lucid and accessible to the nonspecialist, Striking Back is needed now because our foun- dational institutions are under attack. The Russians are already implement- ing their own plan of attack, known as the Gerasimov Doctrine, named after the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia. Under this policy, the Russians have found an inexpensive tool to use social media to create “permanent unrest and conflict within an enemy state” (Molly McKew, September/October 2017 Politico ). The y use the tensions over race and other culture wars against U.S. citizens by iso- lating target audiences, which can result in warring factions. And Kent is on the case. As govern- ments are slow (here he includes the European Union as well as the U.S. government) to react to ultrafast social media developments, his favored vehi- cle for combating Russian disinforma- tion is nongovernment actors (NGAs). He makes it clear in his call for action that organizations outside govern- ment, if they work together, can “kill the messenger” by taking on outfits such as the (Russian military intelligence–sup- ported) Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg. NGAs can unmask Russian trolls, he states, “so that everything that source produces in the future will be met with skepticism.” As the U.S. government continues its piecemeal approach to fighting Rus- sian disinformation campaigns via the Department of Defense, USAID, State’s Global Engagement Center and others, Kent sees an important funding role for the U.S. government, but he advocates larger grants and fewer bureaucratic requirements and agendas attached. Funding of NGAs is problematic in Russia given the strict 2012 “foreign agent law” (and subsequent amend- ments) that requires Russian nonprofits to register as foreign agents and be sub- jected to a death grip of bureaucratic attention to hamper their activities. Kent suggests that Russian frontline fighters cooperate with international news organizations, undergo IT training and be awarded prizes. Stepping up the fight against disinformation helps Russia to understand what we find unacceptable, and when that is clear we will be better able to find common interests on the big issues. Yet the big brother problem remains. When it comes to Russian disinforma- tion, the playing field has never been level. I have worked with some who think that if we just “make nice,” the Russians will, too. But that approach is to abandon the field. Just ask anti-dis- information practitioners in the three Baltic countries. As one who lived in the Soviet Union and Russia for 13 years between 1972 and 2012, I would like to see more hard evidence of what Russian informa- tion operations actually do. Without revealing sources and methods, can the public know how we see the Russian fingerprints, and what is the resulting damage? The author does not advocate a radical transformation in our attitude toward Russia. Stepping up the fight against disinformation helps Russia to understand what we find unaccept- able, and when that is clear we will be better able to find common interests on the big issues such as arms control, the environment and human trafficking. Times of “playing only defense” are in the past. Striking Back is a master- ful game plan for acting now to combat Russian disinformation. n Mike Hurley started with the U.S. Informa- tion Agency in 1985 and retired from the State Department in 2015. Between 1972 and 2012, he lived for 13 years in the Soviet Union and Russia. In 2011 he created U.S. Embassy Moscow’s “American Seasons in Russia,” a yearlong celebration of the depth and diversity of U.S. culture, by raising $2 million in the private sector in Russia. It featured the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti, the Alvin Ai- ley Dance Company, Herbie Hancock and dozens of other performing groups from zydeco to gospel.