Lawmakers Warn of 'Trojan Horse' Networks Amplifying Foreign Propaganda in US
House Foreign Affairs Committee members say a sprawling network of activists, nonprofits and social media influencers is amplifying hostile foreign messages inside American democracy, and they are pushing for transparency and enforcement of foreign agent disclosure laws.
Lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee are raising alarms about what they describe as a sprawling network of activists, nonprofits and social media influencers acting as modern-day «Trojan horses» that carry the messages of foreign adversaries through the open gates of American democracy.
The warning came into sharp focus during a hearing titled «Trojan Horses: Covert Foreign Malign Influence Operations in America,» when CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin and two fellow activists entered House Rayburn 2172 and positioned themselves behind the witnesses wearing T-shirts supporting the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Communist Party of Cuba. About 30 minutes into the hearing, South and Central Asia Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., halted the proceedings and had Capitol Police escort them out.
«They're coming in, trying to look like one thing, but we know that once they're inside the gates that those doors are going to spring open, and there's a whole other motivation for what they're trying to do,» Huizenga said. He described the episode as political theater designed for an audience beyond the committee room, noting that activists filmed the confrontation on their phones to circulate on social media and attract attention, donations and volunteers. «This isn't about discourse. This is about disruption,» he said.
At the center of the controversy is communist tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham, who married CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans in Jamaica in 2017, soon after funneling $285 million to six pro-China, pro-communist, anti-American nonprofits in the United States, including CodePink, according to an investigation. Lawmakers say the answer lies in transparency and following the money to expose who finances the alleged «Trojan horse» operations.
The phrase «Trojan horse» comes from the ancient Greek story of soldiers concealed inside a wooden horse presented to the city of Troy. Once the horse was taken behind the city's fortified walls, the soldiers emerged and opened the gates, destroying Troy. Huizenga stressed that Americans can hold sincere beliefs while also having those messages funded or amplified by foreign actors without necessarily knowing it. He argued that the answer to foreign influence is exposing the origins of the messaging through transparency and robust debate.
«Transparency. Transparency is the watchword,» Huizenga said. «We really need to make sure that people know not only the why, but the who is behind all this.»
Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash., said America's open political system creates opportunities for foreign governments to try to influence legitimate domestic debates through social media, universities and other institutions. «The American people need transparency and need to understand what is going on in these public policy discussions and whether it's podcast hosts, certain actors on social media or things going on our college campuses,» Baumgartner said. «We need to know who's behind it and what their motivations are.»
Baumgartner pointed to «clear transparency on this issue» as a solution, adding that if evidence showed organizations were acting on behalf of foreign governments without complying with applicable disclosure laws, the matter could potentially be referred to the Justice Department, which oversees the Foreign Agent Registration Act, or FARA. The law requires that people and organizations acting on behalf of foreign interests register with the Justice Department.
During the hearing, lawmakers expressed concern about how the Communist Party of China, Russia, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Communist Party of Cuba spread their propaganda and influence in the United States. The episode captured the central tension running through the hearing: how does the United States expose genuine covert foreign influence without treating protected American political speech as foreign subversion?
Committee members made clear they view the modern «Trojan horse» not as a wooden structure but as a network of ostensibly American voices that foreign governments and foreign-linked actors can allegedly fund, amplify or exploit. They said the solution is robust debate paired with disclosure, so that the public can see not only the message but also the money and motivations behind it.
