In a bombshell revelation during a Cabinet meeting this week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that the Biden-era State Department maintained secret dossiers on American citizens, labeling them as “vectors of disinformation”—including at least one Trump administration official.
The disclosure sent shockwaves through the room and is already triggering national debate about the weaponization of federal bureaucracy, government overreach, and the potential chilling effect on First Amendment rights.
Rubio’s comments made clear that the now-shuttered Global Engagement Center (GEC), an office originally created under the Obama administration to counter foreign terrorist propaganda, had morphed under Biden into a domestic speech-monitoring operation.
“We had an office in the Department of State whose job it was to censor Americans,” Rubio stated bluntly. “They had files, dossiers, on citizens. On someone at this very table.”
While Rubio declined to name names, Vice President JD Vance cut the tension with a quip:
“Was it me or Elon [Musk]? We can follow up when the media is gone,” prompting laughter from Trump and others present.
The tone may have been light, but the implications are serious. The State Department was reportedly tracking Americans’ social media activity, compiling files based on posts about COVID-19, the Wuhan lab theory, and criticism of U.S. intelligence agencies, under the guise of monitoring “foreign influence.”
This moment comes just weeks after Rubio formally shut down the GEC, which in its final iteration had been rebranded as the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Hub (R/FIMI). Though the Biden administration had scrambled to preserve it, Rubio pulled the plug in April, ending the office’s nearly $50 million annual taxpayer-funded budget.
“Under the previous administration, this office… spent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving,” Rubio wrote in a statement. “That ends today.”
Investigative journalist Matt Taibbi, among others, had previously reported that the GEC flagged Americans for posts that:
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Described COVID-19 as an engineered bioweapon
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Mentioned the Wuhan Institute of Virology
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Suggested CIA involvement in the pandemic’s origins
In other words, expressing unapproved opinions could get you flagged as a foreign agent or a disinformation threat—even if you were a U.S. citizen.
Billionaire entrepreneur and current Trump administration adviser Elon Musk wasn’t surprised by Rubio’s comments. In early 2023, Musk had already warned:
“The worst offender in U.S. government censorship & media manipulation is an obscure agency called GEC… They are a threat to our democracy.”
Now, with Musk aligned publicly with the Trump administration, and the GEC shuttered, that assessment looks prescient.
This revelation confirms what many on the right have long suspected: the federal government was monitoring and targeting American citizens for their political views, not just foreign actors or threats.
It also raises significant questions about:
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The legality of such surveillance
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Who authorized these dossiers
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Whether individuals will face consequences for violating Americans’ First Amendment rights
The residual infrastructure of censorship built under the guise of “foreign interference” is now being exposed—and dismantled.
