Friends, today I’m thrilled to share with you a project I’ve been quietly working on for the last several months.
Welcome to DISARMED: How the United States Gave Up the Fight Against Falsehoods, a new podcast series that I’m hosting right here on The Wayfinder.
This series begins by telling the stories of the dedicated public servants who, for years, oversaw the United States’ information defenses across the federal government: at the State Department, DHS, the White House, the intelligence community, and international broadcasters like Voice of America.
Through in-depth interviews with the people who worked to expose foreign influence operations, protect elections, inform the public, and strengthen national resilience, DISARMED examines how America’s defenses against disinformation became political targets. Ahead of the consequential 2026 midterm elections, it also explores what we lose when those defenses disappear.
If you’re a longtime reader of The Wayfinder, you know we’ve heard far less from the people who actually did this work than from the loudmouths who gleefully dismantled it. DISARMED gives the patriots who have been smeared the space to tell their story and explain what they were protecting, what it cost them, and what’s at stake for all of us now.
DISARMED has been a labor of love for me. Since I became the manifestation of right-wing ire against the counter-disinformation community, I have mentioned at every opportunity that my experience is not unique. Across the U.S. government and civil society, dozens of other researchers have gone through similar ordeals. They have been the subjects of lies and harassment for simply doing their jobs, and doing them well.
These are stories that have been told in individual pieces, spread across publications, across the internet, and behind paywalls. To my knowledge, this is the first time this picture is being presented for free, and in totality. That was really important to me, because this story isn’t an abstract debate about government bureaucracy. After Trump took a sledgehammer to our information defenses, DISARMED is a critical look at whether Americans have the everything they need to make decisions about their lives and their votes.
Throughout this series, you’ll hear from:
Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, historian, and staff writer at The Atlantic.
Daniel Kimmage, former Acting Director of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center.
Geoff Hale, former Director of the Election Security Initiative at the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Steve Herman, former White House Bureau Chief at Voice of America.
Caitlin Durkovich, former Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Homeland Security Advisor for Resilience and Response at the National Security Council.
Additional voices include Tonya Wichman, Director of Elections for Defiance County, Ohio; Michael Moore, Chief Information Security Officer for the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office; Nora Benavidez, civil rights and free speech attorney; and Orna Blum, former senior U.S. diplomat.
I’m so grateful to these colleagues for sharing their stories—and their expertise—with me and all of you.
I’m also indebted to Emily Malina, my friend and intrepid producer, who took this podcast from “I’m going to interview some friends on Zoom” to a high-quality, compelling visual and audio production with kickass visuals and a sick theme song (props to the wonderful Steve Lakawicz for that wonderful track!).
We’ll be dropping a total of five episodes of DISARMED between now and Election Day, with more to come after, including lives with disinformation researchers and deep dives on new books in the space.
Beyond listening and watching, here are two things you can do if you want to make DISARMED a success:
Share it with a friend. We aren’t paying Big Tech to amplify our work, so we need your help. Do you have a concerned citizen in your life who doesn’t know how exposed America’s information environment is? A podcast junkie who will enjoy a series like this? Make sure they hear these stories. Episodes will be available through right here on Substack, The Wayfinder’s YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify (it may take a few hours for the pod to populate there, so if they’re your preferred platforms, be patient!).
Become a paid subscriber to The Wayfinder, or buy us a coffee. Making this podcast at a professional level was only possible thanks to a generous supporter, and keeping it up will take more funds! Every dollar goes right back into producing public service, pro-democracy analysis and reporting.
Most of all, thank you for being here. Amid the endless doomscroll, it’s nice to know we’ve got a community that is still fighting for a shared reality. This podcast is for you.
I hope you enjoy it—please let me know what you think in the comments. 🧭
Episode 101: The Diplomats who Fought Foreign Propaganda | Show Notes
Our guest today is Daniel Kimmage, the first acting coordinator of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, and later the organization’s principal deputy coordinator. He oversaw the Center’s flagship operations to expose and disrupt information operations by Russia, China, Iran and terrorist organizations, as well as a global network of partnerships. He also served in the Office of Policy Planning, where his portfolio included public diplomacy, counterterrorism, intelligence and cyber issues.
Kimmage is the author of It’s Worse Than You Think: How AI Is Undermining Democracy and National Security for New America, where he is a Future Security Fellow, and well as Befuddled: How American Can Get Its Voice Back in The Washington Quarterly. His analysis has been featured by The New York Times, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, among others. He is a graduate of Binghamton University, Cornell University, and National Defense University. He writes a Substack called Bad Influences about manipulation, deception, and geopolitical competition in the age of AI. He is currently the President of Kensington Global, a boutique consultancy specializing in narrative intelligence.
Publications we mention in this episode:
Daniel Kimmage’s Op-Ed in The Hill, “We need accountability for federal employee purges made on false pretenses.”
The Global Engagement' Center’s Special Report on “Russia’s Pillars of Disinformation and Propaganda”
DISARMED is hosted by Nina Jankowicz and produced by Emily Malina. Our theme song is by Steve Lakawicz. Thanks our facility manager, production, and post production crew who dedicated their time and energy to this project, as well as the anonymous donor whose generosity took it to the next level. DISARMED wouldn’t have been possible without all of them!
