Information Threats and Influence Directorate

The Information Threats and Influence Directorate is funded by the Integrated Security Fund (formerly the CSSF) an intelligence funding mechanism overseen by the National Security Council. It is a separate directorate within the Defence and Security Directorate General (formerly Defence and Intelligence Directorate General) of the FCDO. The directorate is a successor to the Counter Disinformation and Media Development Programme which was previously based within the HMG Russia Unit in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECAD) Directorate. This was responsible anti-Russian propaganda. The new Directorate is also working to produce propaganda against China, Iran and the Palestinians.

In the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund annual report 2023 to 2024, Published 5 December 2024 it is noted that:

The creation and spread of disinformation by state threat actors rose during 2023 to 2024, targeting democracies across the globe, including the UK. The CSSF used agility to meet this threat, including the establishment of the Information Threats and Influence Portfolio, created to directly counter foreign information manipulation and interference. Its primary focus over 2023 to 2024 was to counter Russia’s information war against Ukraine. The CSSF also supported countries and international organisations in building resilience to the corrosive effect of Russian disinformation by increasing the capacity of governmental and non-governmental organisations, media and others to encourage critical thinking about information sources and develop protections.

The budget for this work was £17.3 million. This rose to £20 million in 2024/5.

In January 2024 the Foreign Affairs committee reported that:

In 2022, the FCDO also established the Information Threats and Influence Directorate (ITID) to challenge disinformation, propaganda and information operations by state actors and to enhance our reach to key audiences globally. EECAD is working closely with ITID to prioritise and develop its activities in Europe and Central Asia on the basis of UK national security interests. This work is heavily focused on building insight into Russian, and others’, information operations, supporting international coordination and responses, providing governmental capacity building and delivering strategic communications to counter hostile states’ malign narratives.

In March 2023 the government announced:

We have established a new directorate in the FCDO – incorporating the Government Information Cell – as part of a drive to increase our capability to assess and respond to the hostile manipulation of information by actors including Russia, China and Iran where they affect UK interests abroad.

In the organisational structure of the FCDO it sits in the Defence and Intelligence Directorate General alongside the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECAD) Directorate, which also has well advertised intelligence links including, until 2023 at least, HMG Russia Unit. However the exposure of the Russia Unit as a veritable hub for spooks by the Russian intelligence services in late 2024, meant that its cover was certainly blown, though it continued to exist in government data disclosure until at least September 2024.

After this the Directorate was renamed as Cyber, Information and Tech Threats Directorate.

2023

• February 2023 - William Cook - Deputy Director of the Information Threats and Influence Directorate at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
• September 2023 - Andy Pryce reports commencing work as Head of Information Threat Mitigation in September 2023. He lists only one skill under the post 'Building Organizational Capability' which suggests that he was involved in setting up the Directorate.

2024

• 26 March - From David Cameron to Alicia Kearns, 26 March 2024:

Russia is conducting an information war as well as a kinetic one. A key part of the UK’s agenda is supporting Ukraine to counter Russia’s global Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (or “FIMI”) campaign. Other hostile states and non-state actors are also increasingly using similar tools to threaten the UK’s global interests. The FCDO is scaling up the UK’s response to the information threat posed by Russia (understanding their tactics, preparing response options to deter hostile information operations, and working with allies and partners to build resilience) – as well as other hostile states. We will deliver the Integrated Review Refresh’s ambition of increasing UK’s “capability to assess & respond to the hostile manipulation of information by actors including Russia, China & Iran where they affect UK interests abroad”.

We have pre-bunked and exposed Russian plans and atrocities for example exposing Russia’s systematic forcible deportation of Ukrainian children and the reality of Russian control of the Temporarily Controlled Territories of Ukraine.

In one example, the #TakenFromUkraine campaign was developed with the US, Poland and Canada with over three million views of campaign content across multiple media – with witness testimony events featuring Ukrainian survivors of Russian atrocities hosted for UK Parliamentarians and members of the London diplomatic community. We have revealed Russia’s true intent & scale of egregious activity such as the reality of Russian authorities’ systematic interrogation, detention, and forced deportation of vast numbers of Ukrainian civilians. During the summer, for example, the FCDO published evidence showing that 91% of Ukrainian civilians held by Russian forces described torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence. We have combatted Russia’s information war on Ukraine, by actively identifying & challenging Russian Information Manipulation & Interference operations. We have worked to disrupt information operations internationally. The UK is continuing to work with partners to understand the threat internationally, share information and provide expertise to help build resilience. We have partnered with the Government of Ukraine to help them challenge Russian disinformation and communicate to international audiences. We have worked with the Ukrainians to deliver campaigns including across the global middle ground that reach millions of people through online content and media, with a focus on amplifying local and Ukrainian voices to lay out the impact of the war on Ukrainian people and global stability and prosperity. Through the new Information Threats and Influence Directorate, the FCDO is growing its capability to assess and respond to the full range of information threats by hostile actors and working closely with international partners.

• May - Andy Pryce reports commencing his next post as Head of Capability - Information Threats in May 2024.

People

• Jonny Hall Jonny Hall is Director of the Information Threats and Influence Directorate. Before this he was Director of the Stabilisation Unit. Previously, Jonny spent 4 years in No.10 Downing Street, where he was Foreign Affairs Private Secretary to the Prime Minister from late 2016 to 2019.

Resources

• https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/44320/documents/220463/default/
• Counter Disinformation Analyst (Fixed Term) Mid-level, Long-term consulting assignment Posted on 31 October 2022