Tracing Tulsi Gabbard’s ‘Biolabs’ Documents Back to a Russian Disinformation Campaign
In one of her last acts as Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Tulsi Gabbard announced she was declassifying documents related to biolabs in Ukraine, which she falsely implied contained proof that the US has been funding “dangerous” gain of function research on infectious pathogens.
Gabbard also said the documents contain “never before seen” US intelligence — but the problem is, that intelligence has been seen before.
Specifically, some of the slides Gabbard released have been seen previously in a Russian disinformation campaign.
Related Knowledge Center: Information integrity
In an increasingly fractured media landscape, truth has been a casualty in the public discussion. Coverage has been warped by the business needs of struggling news organizations, and a significant segment of the public relies on bad-faith outlets that are little more than propagandists. While fact-checking has become routine, some organizations are exploring other ways to combat the trends. And misinformation spewed by AI-driven chatbots has become more of a feature than simply a bug.
Fact-checking and its detractors