Class Syllabus: Democracy in the (Dis)Information Age

(continuously updated so please check back!)

Dec 17, 2022

You asked, I answered — below please find topics and assigned readings for each class. I will pin this post on my home page so you can refer back to it if you take a break and want to see/catch up on what you missed. Since this is all self-paced, I haven’t included specific dates for each class; I have included dates, however, for Zoom office hours and guest speakers who have been scheduled. Note that this syllabus is subject to change as current events may shape what I cover and as I incorporate more guest speakers. Past classes are linked to the respective posts, and you can always find previous material at the Democracy in the (Dis)Information Age tab on the home page. Enjoy!

I. A Primer on the U.S. Information Landscape

Class 1: Case Study: Operation Infektion

Assignment: New York Times Video, Operation Infektion

Class 2: What is Propaganda, and What is the Problem With It?

Assignment: President Ronald Reagan’s Speech at Brandenberg Gate

December 8: Zoom Office Hours, 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. EST

Class 3: What the U.S. Can (and Can’t) Do to Stop Propaganda

Assignment: Mike Flynn Op-Ed, WaPo article on DOD Covert Psyops

Class 4: Why Can’t the U.S. Get Its Act Together When It Comes to Information Warfare?

December 20, 1 p.m. EST: LIVE Zoom event with guest speaker

Matt Armstrong

(recording will be posted on Substack Wednesday morning)

Assignment: The Past, Present, and Future of the War for Public Opinion, Censoring the Voice of America

December 22: Zoom Office Hours, 12-1 p.m EST

II. Active Measures: What Are They and Why Are They a Threat?

Class 5: The Active Measures Long Game

Assignment: Yuri Bezmenov, Soviet Subversion Doctrine

January 10: Zoom Office Hours, 5-6 p.m. EST

Class 6: What We’re Up Against

January 17, 1 p.m.EST: LIVE Zoom event with guest speaker John Sipher (recording will be posted on Substack Wednesday morning)

Assignment: Convergence is Worse Than Collusion, It’s easier for Russia to recruit Americans today than it was during the Cold War

Class 7: This Isn’t Our First Rodeo

Assignment: Soviet Active Measures: Hearing Before the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, House of Representatives, Ninety-seventh Congress, Second Session, July 13, 14, 1982, p. 47-50 (“VI. AN EVALUATION OF ACTIVE MEASURES”)

January 29: Wine & Fries Happy Hour with special guest Emily Brandwin, 8-9 p.m. EST

February 1: Zoom Office Hours, 10 a.m. - 11 a.m. EST

Class 8: The CIA and the “Cultural Cold War”

Assignment: Was modern art a weapon of the CIA?, Unpopular Front: American art and the Cold War

Class 9: Case Study: Operation HELPFUL

February 15, 3 p.m. EST, LIVE Zoom event with guest speaker Tim Weiner, author of The Folly and the Glory: America, Russia, and Political Warfare 1945-2020 (recording will be posted on Substack Thursday morning)

Assignment: Russians don’t hear the truth about Putin’s war. The CIA can help.

Class 10: Disinformation as an Asymmetrical Threat

Assignment: Weapons of the Weak: Russia and AI-driven asymmetric warfare

March 9: Zoom Office Hours, 12 - 1 p.m. EST

Class 11: The Gerasimov Doctrine

March 14, 4 p.m. EDT, LIVE Zoom event with guest speaker Seth Jones, author of Three Dangerous Men: Russia, China, Iran and the Rise of Irregular Warfare (recording will be posted on Substack Wednesday morning)

Assignment: The Gerasimov Doctrine, I’m Sorry for Creating the Gerasimov Doctrine

Class 12: Hybrid Warfare — What Is It?

Assignment: The Future of Competition: U.S. Adversaries and the Growth of Irregular Warfare, Hybrid Warfare — New Threats, Complexity, and “Trust” as the Antidote

March 26: Wine & Fries Happy Hour with special guest Peter Strzok, 8-9 p.m. EDT

Class 13: Reflexive Control

Assignment: Russian reflexive control is subverting the American political landscape

April 12: Zoom Office Hours, 10-11 a.m. EDT

Class 14: The Firehose of Falsehood

April 26, 5 p.m. EDT, LIVE Zoom event with guest speaker Julia Davis, Russian Media Monitor (recording will be posted on Substack Thursday morning)

Assignment: The Russian “Firehose of Falsehood” Propaganda Model: Why It Might Work and Options to Counter It

May 17, Zoom Office Hours, 9-10 a.m. EDT

Class 15. Racism as a National Security Threat, Part I

Assignment: New York Times Video, The Seven Commandments of Fake News

May 21: Wine & Fries Happy Hour with special guest Elie Mystal, 8-9 p.m. EDT

III. Disinformation and Foreign Election Interference

Class 16. Foreign Election Interference: Past, Present, and Future

May 31, 1 p.m. EDT, LIVE Zoom event with guest speaker Andrew McCabe, former Deputy Director of the FBI

Class 17. Election Meddling 101

Assignment: C-Span Washington Journal: David Shimer on Russian Election Meddling Efforts

June 20: Zoom Office Hours, 9-10 a.m. EDT

June 25: Wine & Fries Introduction to the Enneagram Workshop, 6-8 p.m. EDT

Class 18. It’s the Statehouses, Stupid

Assignment: The April 2023 Indictment for Russian Election Interference and Threats to U.S. Democracy

June 28, 4 p.m. EDT, LIVE Zoom event with guest speaker

David Pepper

, former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party

Class 19: The Hack and Dump in 2016

Assignment: Indictment filed by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III against twelve GRU officers, July 13, 2018

August 9: Zoom Office Hours, 12-1 p.m. EDT

August 27: Wine & Fries Happy Hour with special guest Michael Cohen, 8-9 p.m. EDT

Class 20: Inside the Troll Farm

Assignment: Indictment by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III against the Internet Research Agency et al., February 16, 2018

September 14: Zoom Office Hours, 1-2 p.m. EDT

Class 21: Defending Against the Dark Arts (of Communication)

September 27, 11 a.m. EDT, LIVE Zoom event with professor Jennifer Mercieca, author of Demagogue for President: the Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump

Class 22: Project Lakhta

Assignment: United States v. Khusyaynova, New York Times Video, How Disinformation Is Taking Over the World

October 27: Zoom Office Hours, 9-10 a.m. EDT

Class 23: Racism as a National Security Threat, Part II

Assignment: Senate Intelligence Committee Report on 2016 Russian Election Interference, Vol. 2, pp. 38-40, University of Oxford Computational Propaganda Research Project

Class 24: What’s Next for the Internet Research Agency?

November 14, 2 p.m. EDT: LIVE Zoom event with Colin Clarke, Director of Research for The Soufan Group

November 29: Zoom Office Hours, 12-1 p.m. EST

December 10: Wine & Fries Happy Hour with special guest Mary Trump, 8-9 p.m. EST

Class 25: Election Interference 201

Assignment: Intelligence Community Assessment of Foreign Threats to the 2020 U.S. Federal Elections

IV. What Makes America So Vulnerable to Active Measures?

Class 26: Why Trust Matters in a Democracy

Assignment: Exercise, Why do we trust each other?, Excerpt from Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Vol. II, Ch. 8, “The Americans Combat Individualism by the Principle of Interest Rightly Understood”

Class 27: Social Trust: The Dark Side

Assignment: “What is Bonding Social Capital?” Tristan Claridge, Institute for Social Capital

January 30: Zoom Office Hours, 3-4 p.m. EST

Class 28: The Changing Landscape of Disinformation

February 22, 2 p.m. EST: LIVE Zoom event with Nina Jankowicz, Vice President for the Center of Information Resilience

February 29: Zoom Office Hours, 5-6 p.m. EST

Class 29: Social Media and Social Trust

Assignment: Exercise, How does social media impact our relationships?, “The Social Experiment Facebook Should Run”

March 20: Zoom Office Hours, 5-6 p.m. EDT

Class 30: Disinformation and the Rule of Law

March 28, 4 p.m. EDT: LIVE Zoom event with Barbara McQuade, former U.S. Attorney for Michigan and author of Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America