Aug. 18—The following letter to the Chair, Ranking Member, and Members of six Congressional Committees is being delivered on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. A full mobilization of citizens to demand that their representatives take action on this matter is urgent:
Call for Congressional Investigations of Threats to American Citizens by U.S.-Funded Ukrainian Government Agency
August 13, 2022
The Honorable Richard J. Durbin
Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Durbin,
We the undersigned American citizens, all of whom were included on the “Blacklist” issued on July 14 by the Ukrainian government office, the Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD) under Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, have been accused of promoting “Russian propaganda,” and declared to be “information terrorists” and “war criminals” by this foreign entity. The CCD is being financed by the U.S. Government, including from H.R. 7691, “The Additional Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2022,” which provides funding for the Ukrainian government and its Center for Countering Disinformation. We strongly protest these threats to our constitutional right to free speech, to academic freedom, and to the threat of physical harm coming from a nation at war with the nation we are falsely accused of representing, in our speech and our writings.
We call on your Committee to exercise your oversight of the use of taxpayer funds by investigating the funding of this foreign government agency and their role in directly threatening Americans’ rights and safety. We note that those American citizens targeted on the Blacklist include a sitting member of the U.S. Senate; a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives; a former member of the Virginia House and Senate; two candidates on the November ballot, one for the U.S. Senate and one for the U.S. House of Representatives; four former leading U.S. intelligence professionals; an internationally syndicated columnist in the Catholic Church; prominent academics and journalists and more. See the list, attached. We are prepared to offer our full assistance in the investigation by your Committee.
Sincerely,
Col. Richard H. Black (ret.): Former Marine, former head of the U.S. Army’s Criminal Law Division at the Pentagon, former member of the Virginia House and Senate
Graham Fuller: Former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council, 25-year CIA operations officer, author of numerous books
Ray McGovern: Former Army infantry/intelligence officer, CIA analyst/Presidential briefer
Scott Ritter: Former Marine Intelligence officer, former UN Chief Weapons Inspector in Iraq
Dr. Clifford Kiracofe: Former Senior Staff Member, U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and President, Washington Institute for Peace and Development
James Jatras: Former diplomat, former advisor to U.S. Senate Republican leadership
Harley Schlanger: Former spokesman for Lyndon H. LaRouche, spokesman for the Schiller Institute and The LaRouche Organization
Diane Sare: LaRouche independent candidate for U.S. Senator from New York
Geoff Young: Democratic Party nominee for U.S. Congress from Kentucky, CD 6
Jason Ross: Secretary-Treasurer, The LaRouche Organization and Science Advisor to Lyndon H. LaRouche
J. Michael Springmann: Former United States diplomat with the State Department’s Foreign Service, with postings in Germany, India and Saudi Arabia
Bradley Blankenship: Journalist and columnist
Dr. George Koo: Retired business consultant specializing in U.S.-China Trade, and Chairman, Burlingame Foundation
Tony Magliano: Internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist
Mike Callicrate: Kansas, Owner Ranch Foods Direct
Caleb Maupin: Journalist, Founder & Director of the Center for Political Innovation
