GOP Rep. Young Kim Confronts Kari Lake Over US Giving Up Efforts To Counter Chinese Disinformation

Forbes Breaking News

At a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing last week, Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) questioned Voice of America Director Kari Lake.

Transcript

00:00I don't know whose time she is on.

00:06Thank you very much.

00:08I now recognize myself to ask questions,

00:11and I want to thank the committee chairman Best

00:13and ranking member of this committee for holding today's hearing,

00:17and I want to thank you, Carrie, Ms. Lake, for joining us today

00:20as we work to reform U.S. AGM to its intended purpose as a national security tool.

00:28And I know some of my colleagues have already mentioned this as well,

00:33but these past few days, the world has been watching the Israel-Iran conflict,

00:39and as Iranian audiences are desperate for critical information,

00:44the digital content from VOA's Radio Farda has surged,

00:48with noteworthy spikes in viewership.

00:52Meanwhile, North Korea's state-run newspaper, the Nodong Sinmun,

00:57condemned the United States for the recent U.S. strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

01:03Without reporting from the outside world through VOA and RFA,

01:07most North Korean civilians only see the United States as the bad guy

01:12who, with no factual background or understanding of the risk of the nuclear development.

01:18So I worry about the U.S. government's ability to win in the information domain

01:25during the next crisis, which could be just around the corner.

01:29For example, in a Taiwan's trade crisis,

01:32is the United States able to rapidly disseminate information

01:36and counter Chinese disinformation without entities like RFA,

01:41who have had a long-standing and unique presence in the region.

01:47I acknowledge that we need accountability and transparency within USAGM

01:52and among the grantee organizations,

01:55but we need to accomplish this with measured congressional review and reform

02:01that does not unintentionally cede ground to our adversaries.

02:06So let me ask you a first line of questioning related to retaining the critical functions of VOA.

02:14With the recent events in the Middle East,

02:16we saw a last-minute scramble to bring back VOA Farsi-speaking staff

02:22who are on administrative leave.

02:25Meanwhile, dramatic cuts to RFE, RL, Radio Liberty,

02:30have crippled the Persian language service to Radio Farda.

02:34The U.S. AGM reorganization terminated over 1,400 positions at Voice of America

02:42and spurred massive layoffs at the grantee organizations.

02:47So did you and your team have any concerns about how these terminations

02:52would severely limit the U.S. government's ability to support the flow of accurate information abroad?

02:59Could you explain why or why not?

03:01I don't think it will limit our ability to tell America's story abroad.

03:07And we are doing that.

03:08And, you know, you said scrambled to bring people in.

03:10I wouldn't say scramble.

03:11I think when breaking news happens, if you've been in a newsroom,

03:15you get there's a much you could call it scrambling if you choose.

03:19But basically when breaking news happens, it's all hands on deck.

03:22And these professionals came back in and they're still with us and they're still employed.

03:26And they got to work, as you do in a newsroom, especially when news happens

03:31and it's not at their normal time where they would normally be in.

03:34You come into the newsroom and you cover the story, and that's what we're going to do.

03:37We can do it with a smaller staff.

03:39This newsroom should have been downsized a long time ago,

03:43but because it's the federal government and they don't believe in downsizing at all,

03:47it hasn't happened.

03:48It's over.

03:50Too many people were working in the newsroom, and we've shrunk that down

03:53in order to meet the president's statutory,

03:56his requirement to bring it under statutory minimum.

03:59Okay.

03:59Let me get to the next line of questioning regarding the grantees then.

04:02The RFA has been vital in countering the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda,

04:07whether it was exposing the CCP's ridiculous attempts to blame the U.S. for the COVID-19 pandemic

04:14or uncovering the Uyghur genocide to the world that left RFA Uyghur service reporters

04:19and their families vulnerable to CCP harassment.

04:23USAJM's journalists have spent decades building credibility and trust with audiences

04:28that have grown dramatically in recent decades.

04:32With the organization, reorganization, however,

04:35the grantees have had to let go of a significant portion of their employees

04:40and are unable to effectively fulfill their mission.

04:44So what strategy can you explain to us do you have in place

04:47to ensure we preserve the respective missions, the talents, the functions,

04:54and on-the-ground expertise of the grantee organizations?

04:58Well, a lot of what the grantees are doing was duplicitous of what we're doing at VOA.

05:03Why do we need RFA to be doing a Mandarin news service

05:08when we at VOA are doing Mandarin?

05:10Why do we need to have taxpayers pay for that?

05:13And also, we don't have a grant agreement, a current grant agreement.

05:17We're working to get one, and they have not been cooperative.

05:21You know, the grant agreement that was in place,

05:23that the Biden administration put in place with these folks,

05:26had no transparency, and we don't have a current approved financial plan

05:31from these grantees either.

05:33And then they choose to sue us.

05:35They choose to sue us in the middle of this.

05:36My understanding is the VOA operation is pretty much gone.

05:41No people there.

05:42No, it's not gone.

05:42No people there.

05:43We're doing what is statutorily required, the statutory minimum.

05:46President Trump put forth in his executive order

05:50to bring this agency to its statutory minimum functions.

05:54And Mandarin happens to be one of those statutorily required languages.

05:58And we have a staff.

06:00I believe we have about 15 people we will be staffing for our Mandarin coverage.

06:04And you mentioned if something were to happen,

06:06a big news story were to break, we would surge people over.

06:10This is how newsrooms operate.

06:11For example, in an American newsroom, when the elections happen,

06:16you surge people in to cover you, put more reporters on covering the elections

06:21because it's a big story.

06:22And then when there aren't elections, you have fewer people covering elections.

06:26When there's an earthquake, you surge people over.

06:29We have pulled back $17.3 million from the grantees.

06:33We're going to use that money to surge operations for news coverage when need be.

06:38Well, I agree that we have to have efficient operations.

06:42But the point that I'm trying to make is that we have let go of journalists

06:46that have spent decades building their credibility and trust with our audiences

06:51that are listening and relying on RFA, RFA, RL.

06:56I just want to make sure that those talents are not eliminated

07:01and we are able to bring them back as soon as possible.

07:04And again,

07:05Well, we're paying RFA.

07:07We've paid them.

07:09I mean, I don't know what they're doing with their money.

07:10I do know they're suing us with their money.

07:12I'm not sure what they're doing.

07:14We're paying RFA.

07:15And if they're firing their workers, then that's on them.

07:18But this agency spends $950 million.

07:22$400 million is going to these grantees.

07:24And we've paid them.

07:26In the interest of time, I know we're way over time.

07:29I do want to recognize Mr. Johnson, Rep. Johnson from Texas.

07:34Ms. Johnson, I'm sorry.

07:36Thank you so much, Madam Chairman.

07:38I appreciate the opportunity, Ms. Lake.

07:41Hi.

Category

Transcript

Recommended