Texas Grabs Malign Foreign Influence by the Horns

As U.S. adversaries barrage American citizens with harmful propaganda, the Lone Star state is coming out swinging. On September 2, Texas stood up a first-of-its-kind “hostile foreign adversaries unit” in its Department of Public Safety to combat malign foreign influence. While the federal government has shuttered intelligence, law enforcement, and cybersecurity efforts to address this threat, Texas is setting an example of what can be done at the state and local level.

Texas’ Brushes With Malign Foreign Influence Galvanize Action in Austin

The U.S. intelligence community has repeatedly warned that China and Russia are using covert campaigns to not only attempt to influence U.S. policy decisions, but also to sow chaos, polarization, and distrust among Americans to destabilize democracy. Texas has been on the front lines of some of these efforts.

In 2020, for example, the Trump administration closed the Chinese consulate in Houston because, according to senior U.S. officials, the consulate’s espionage and influence activities rose to a level that threatened U.S. national security. For example, Chinese operatives posed as Americans online in 2022 to oppose the building of a rare-earth processing plant in Texas.

When the legislature introduced a law in 2023 to ban China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran from purchasing land in Texas, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a campaign on the Chinese messaging app WeChat that rallied opponents to attend the committee hearings on the law. Russia, meanwhile, has attempted to pit Texans against each other in a series of influence campaigns.

In response, Texas lawmakers have passed more than a dozen laws in the past year alone to combat Chinese and other malign influences. One law, for example, requires colleges and universities to disclose gifts from foreign adversaries. Another criminalizes foreign secret police operations.

The new hostile foreign adversaries unit in particular will “prevent the harassment and coercion of this state’s residents from foreign adversary operations, strengthen state agencies against foreign adversary operations, and protect this state’s critical infrastructure.” The law also updates the state’s cybersecurity training program to include education on foreign malign influence.

States Step Into the Void Left by Federal Closures

In contrast to Texas’ efforts to combat foreign malign influence, the federal government has shuttered many of its capabilities over the past year. The administration shut down the Justice Department’s Foreign Influence Task Force, the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, and Department of Homeland Security capabilities to defend election security. Most recently, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard stated her intention to dissolve the Foreign Malign Influence Center. These groups all played a critical role in exposing adversarial influence operations.

As Washington steps back, governors and state legislatures are stepping up. Arkansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Louisiana have joined Texas in passing legislation to require greater disclosure of lobbying ties to companies and organizations from adversarial nations. Florida, Tennessee, Indiana, and others, have passed more stringent foreign disclosure laws requiring higher education institutions to disclose foreign donors.

U.S. Must Mobilize Resources To Fortify Americans Against Malign Influence

While the federal government should rebuild its counter-malign influence capabilities, state governments should follow Texas and develop their own initiatives to not only protect but also educate their residents. States should dedicate resources toward identifying and rooting out foreign malign influence, focusing on adversarial efforts to influence local institutions of higher education, state and local politicians, and the public at large.

Emily Hester is a research analyst with FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation and contributes to FDD’s Russia Program. For more analysis from the author and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow FDD on X @FDD and @FDD_CCTI. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.