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The Information Research Department (IRD)

The Wikipedia article for this organization is damning enough:

The IRD was a secret Cold War propaganda department of the British Foreign Office, created to publish anti-communist propaganda, including black propaganda, provide support and information to anti-communist politicians, academics, and writers, and to use weaponised information, but also disinformation and "fake news" to attack not only its original targets but also certain socialists and anti-colonial movements. Soon after its creation, the IRD broke away from focusing solely on Soviet matters and began to publish pro-colonial propaganda intended to suppress pro-independence revolutions in Asia, Africa, Ireland, and the Middle East. The IRD was heavily involved in the publishing of books, newspapers, leaflets, journals, and even created publishing houses to act as propaganda fronts, such as Ampersand Limited. Operating for 29 years, the IRD is known as the longest-running covert government propaganda department in British history, the largest branch of the Foreign Office, and the first major anglophone propaganda offensive against the USSR since the end of World War II. By the 1970s, the IRD was performing military intelligence tasks for the British Military in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.

The IRD was the government department to which George Orwell submitted his list of suspected Communists (Orwell's list), including many prominent people such as Charlie Chaplin, Paul Robeson, and Michael Redgrave. With the help of Orwell's widow Sonia Orwell and his former publisher Fredric Warburg, the IRD gained the foreign rights to much of Orwell's work and spent years distributing Animal Farm onto every continent, translating Orwell's works into 20 different languages, funding the creation of an animated feature film based on Animal Farm, and working with the CIA to create the feature-length Animal Farm animated movie, the first of its kind in British history. Many historians have noted how Orwell's literary reputation can largely be credited to joint propaganda operations between the IRD and CIA. The IRD heavily marketed Animal Farm for audiences in the middle-east in an attempt to sway Arab nationalism and independence activists from seeking Soviet aid, as it was believed by IRD agents that a story featuring pigs as the villains would appeal highly towards Muslim audiences. The IRD funded the activities of many authors including Arthur Koestler, Bertrand Russell, and Robert Conquest.

Internationally, IRD agents took part in many historic events, including Britain's entry into the European Economic Community, the Korean War, the Suez Crisis, the Malayan Emergency, The Troubles, the Mau Mau Uprising, Cyprus Emergency, and the Sino-Indian War. Other IRD activities included forging letters and posters, conducting smear attacks against British trade unionists, and attacking opponents of the British military by planting fake news stories in the British press. Some of these fabricated stories the IRD created included accusations that Irish republicans were killing dogs by setting them on fire, and falsely accusing EOKA members of raping schoolgirls.

Although the existence of the IRD was successfully kept hidden from the British public until the 1970s, the Soviet Union had always been aware of its existence, for Guy Burgess had been posted to IRD for a period of two months in 1948. Burgess was later sacked by the IRD's founder Christopher Mayhew, who accused him of being "dirty, drunk and idle". The IRD closed its operations in 1977 after its existence was discovered by British journalists after an investigation into a heavy amount of anti-Soviet propaganda being published by academics belonging to St Antony's College, Oxford. An exposé published in The Guardian titled by David Leigh "Death of the Department that Never Was", became the first public acknowledgement of the IRD's existence.

— Wikipedia. Information Research Department

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The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)

The CFR is a powerful and influential organization, sometimes called "Wall Street's Think Tank", which represents the interests of the capitalist ruling class in the United States and plays a significant role in shaping U.S. foreign policy in favour of corporate and imperialistic interests, while downplaying the needs of the working class and other marginalized groups. Founded in 1921, the CFR is a private non-profit headquartered in New York City. Its funding comes from membership dues, corporate sponsorships, foundation grants, and individual donations.

Membership is by invitation only (typically proposed by current CFR members), prospective members must undergo a rigorous nomination and vetting process based on their expertise, experience, and potential contributions to the CFR's mission.

• Imperialist: The recommendations made by the CFR often reflect imperialistic goals aimed at maintaining and expanding U.S. global dominance. It advocates for military interventions, economic sanctions, and other measures that serve the interests of multinational corporations and the capitalist ruling class, even at the expense of other nations and peoples.
• Influential: Government officials, policymakers, and media outlets have very close ties to the CFR. The organization's concerning influence on foreign policy decisions leads to policies that prioritize capitalist interests over broader social and humanitarian concerns.
• Undemocratic: There is a lack of transparency and democratic accountability in the CFR's operations. The organization is not subject to public scrutiny or electoral processes, allowing its members to exert considerable influence on U.S. foreign policy behind closed doors.
• Neoliberal: The CFR's policy recommendations tend to align with neoliberal economic principles, advocating for free trade, deregulation, and privatization. This approach is seen as promoting corporate interests at the expense of workers' rights, social welfare, and economic equality.

In the Whitehouse

Biden's current administration is comprised of a (perhaps) shocking number of CFR members:

The CFR is funded and led by members of the old plutocracy. For example, David Rockefeller was the CFR’s chair for fifteen years and has been its leading financial donor historically. No less than seventeen Biden team members (out of thirty total, or 56.7 percent) are members of, have close family ties to, or are otherwise connected to the CFR (see box on page 3). These include: vice president Kamala Harris; secretary of state Antony Blinken; secretary of the treasury Janet Yellen; secretary of defense Lloyd Austin; CIA head William J. Burns; national security advisor Jake Sullivan; secretary of agriculture Thomas Vilsack; secretary of commerce Gina Raimondo; secretary of homeland security Alejandro Mayorkas; chief of staff Ron Klain; climate envoy John Kerry; domestic council chief Susan Rice; Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt M. Campbell; ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield; chief of Council of Economic Advisers Cecilia Rouse; director of science and technology Eric S. Lander; and counselor Jeffery Zients. All have at least a minimum level of commitment to the CFR, in the sense of having the necessary connections, making the effort needed to become a member, and paying expensive annual dues. Several of this group are especially close to the Council. For example, Blinken is not only a CFR member, but his wife, father, and uncle are also members. Since 2004, Blinken has also often donated to the Council’s annual fund drive. Kerry, a Boston Brahman member of the old money plutocracy whose family wealth exceeds a billion dollars, has at least four other family members in the CFR. Rouse has been a director of the Council since 2018. Vilsack was the cochair of a CFR independent task force study group in 2007. Many have spoken at CFR meetings, such as Mayorkas in June 2011.

Vice President Harris and Chief of Staff Klain are the only ones of the seventeen listed in the box on page 3 who are not members but are tied to the CFR by family. Harris’s sister Maya, who was her campaign manager, has been a Council member since 2013. Klain’s wife, Monica Media, was elected to CFR membership in 2016.3

Although not currently a CFR member, National Security Advisor Sullivan also has close ties to the Council. In recent years, he has written no less than five articles for the CFR’s in-house journal Foreign Affairs, and spoken at the CFR’s New York headquarters.

Finally, Biden himself was allowed to write an article for Foreign Affairs during the presidential campaign. Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren were the only presidential candidates invited to advertise themselves and their ideas in Foreign Affairs during the 2019–20 election period.

— Lawrence Shoup. (2021). The Council on Foreign Relations, the Biden Team, and Key Policy Outcomes

Additional Resources

• The American Empire and its Media | Swiss Policy Research (2017)
• Wall Street’s Think Tank: The Council on Foreign Relations and the Empire of Neoliberal Geopolitics, 1976-2019 | Lawrence Shoup (2019)

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The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM)

The USAGM is a federal agency of the United States government responsible for overseeing and funding U.S. government-supported media organizations that provide news, information, and cultural programming to audiences around the world. It was formerly known as the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) until 2018 when the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 restructured and rebranded it as the USAGM.

Despite many of these organization's claims to the contrary, it should be obvious that none of them are unbiased and all of them have an agenda.

“Freedom of the press” in bourgeois society means freedom for the rich systematically, unremittingly, daily, in millions of copies, to deceive, corrupt and fool the exploited and oppressed mass of the people, the poor.

— V. I. Lenin. (1917). How to Guarantee the Success of the Constituent Assembly

USAGM oversees several media organizations, including:

Radio Free Europe

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) was initially established during the Cold War to broadcast to audiences in countries under Soviet influence. It was funded by the United States government through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) until 1971 when it was reorganized as a private, non-profit corporation, the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Incorporated.

Radio Free Asia

Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a sister organization to RFE/RL, both sharing similar missions. RFA was established in 1996 with funding from the U.S. government, specifically through the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB), which is now part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). Similar to RFE/RL, RFA has also received grants from the NED to support some of its activities.

Middle East Broadcasting Networks

Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN) was established in 2004 and targets Arabic-speaking audiences in the Middle East. From MBN's USAGM profile:

MBN is an Arabic-language news organization with a weekly audience of 27.4 million people in 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. ...

Alhurra and Alhurra-Iraq are 24/7 Arabic-language television networks that provide news and analysis to more than 15.7 million viewers each week. Its in-depth discussion programs provide points of view from throughout the region and the U.S.

Office of Cuba Broadcasting

Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), headquartered in Miami, operates Radio and Television Martí, providing news and information to audiences in Cuba. From OCB's USAGM profile:

The Martís are a multimedia hub of news, information and analysis that provide the people of Cuba with interactive programs seven days a week through satellite television and shortwave and AM radio, as well as through emails, DVDs, and SMS text. Combined with the online platform, radiotelevisionmarti.com, the Martís are a one-of-a-kind service that brings unbiased, objective information to all Cubans.

Voice of America

Voice of America (VOA) provides news and information in more than 40 languages, reaching a global audience. From VOA's USAGM profile:

Voice of America provides trusted and objective news and information in 48 languages to a measured weekly audience of more than 326 million people around the world. For more than 80 years, VOA journalists have told American stories and supplied content that many people cannot get locally: objective news and information about the US, their specific region and the world. VOA uses the devices and platforms target markets use to connect audiences on five continents with the people, thoughts and institutions that make America unique.

VOA uses digital, web and mobile media to engage viewers, listeners, users, and friends. Radio and television broadcast to approximately 3,500 affiliates and satellite transmissions reach countries where free speech is banned or where civil society is under threat.

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The National Endowment for Democracy (NED)

The NED is an organization based in the United States that was established in 1983 and is funded through an annual appropriation from the U.S. Congress. Its creation was authorized by the National Endowment for Democracy Act, signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. The NED's primary purpose is to promote and spread the United State's values and version of democracy around the world and advancing its foreign policy objectives.

The NED operates by providing grants to a wide range of organizations, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civic groups, labor unions, media outlets, political parties, etc. These organizations, in turn, implement programs that align with U.S. foreign policy interests, often under the guise of protecting human rights, promoting free and fair elections, etc.

In a nutshell, the idea of what was to become NED arose as a response to revelations about covert CIA efforts to promote democracy, and was debated periodically in Congress between 1967 and 1983. NED was funded initially entirely by Congress, chaired initially by the chairman of the relevant congressional committee, and formally incorporated on the day a congressional conference committee finally decided to authorize spending for it.

...NED acknowledges its ongoing relationship with lawmakers, saying that its "continued funding is dependent on the continued support of the White House and Congress." Those who spearheaded creation of NED have long acknowledged it was part of an effort to move from covert to overt efforts to foster democracy. President Reagan said in 1983 that "this program will not be hidden in the shadows. It will stand proudly in the spotlight, and that's where it belongs." Allen Weinstein, a former acting president of NED and one of the authors of the study that led to its creation, told David Ignatius in a 1991 interview that: "A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA. The biggest difference is that when such activities are done overtly, the flap potential is close to zero. Openness is its own protection."

— ProPublica. (2010). The National Endowment for Democracy Responds to Our Burma Nuclear Story -- And Our Response

An article written by David Ignatius, which contains more details and context, can be found here: Innocence Abroad: The New World of spyless Coups

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The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

The CIA is an instrument of capitalist imperialism and covert interventionism which serves the interests of the ruling (Capitalist) class in the United States. It works to maintain global dominance and advance U.S. geopolitical interests: subjugating nations, exploiting their resources, and preventing the rise of Socialist or anti-imperialist movements.

Methods including coups, assassinations, and support for right-wing regimes are used to undermine sovereign nations and popular movements that challenge Capitalist hegemony.

The CIA's historical association with anti-Communist activities is a significant concern for us. During the Cold War, the CIA was involved in countering Socialist and Communist movements around the world, often collaborating with repressive regimes and engaging in propaganda campaigns against leftist ideologies. The CIA's secretive nature and lack of transparency make it susceptible to abuses of power. The agency's covert operations are a way for Capitalist interests to exert control without public scrutiny, undermining democratic principles.

• The CIA is a Terrorist Organization | SecondThought (2020)
• Former CIA Agent John Stockwell Talks about How the CIA Worked in Vietnam and Elsewhere
• CIA Officer Frank Snepp Discusses Planting Stories in Vietnam
• John Pilger interviews former CIA Latin America chief Duane Clarridge, 2015
• Kissinger and the CIA in Chile: An Interview With Peter Kornbluh, Part I | Truthdig (2023)