4.5 • 2.6K Ratings
🗓️ 4 January 2023
⏱️ 53 minutes
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Sebastian is joined again by Mike Benz, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Communications and Information Policy, to continue talks about the inner workings of the State Department and its relationship with Big Tech to censor Americans.
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0:00.0 | This episode of the America First podcast with me, Sebastian Gorka, is brought to you by Franklin |
0:05.8 | Armory, shop freedom, quality and innovation at FranklinArmory.com. |
0:11.9 | Franklin Armory, we are facilitators of freedom. |
0:15.9 | Welcome to a Friends of America First. |
0:24.6 | Come on on on with me, your host, Sebastian Gorka, former strategist of the 45th President of the United States. |
0:29.9 | Some guests you just can't get enough of, especially when they're outspoken and they know of what they speak. |
0:38.3 | He is known already for giving seven hour, eight hour interviews and Twitter spaces we are delighted to have Mike Benz back with us for one on one. |
0:46.7 | Mike, welcome back to America First. |
0:49.2 | Thank you so much for having me, how excited to continue our deep dive. |
0:55.9 | You have reinvented yourself recently. |
0:59.4 | You are the founder, you are the head of something called the Foundation for Freedom Online. |
1:04.7 | What everybody who is listening right now to go to foundationforfreedom.com and also to follow Mike because he is a treasure trove of information. |
1:14.4 | It's Mike Benz Cyber on Twitter, that's Mike Benz B-E-N-Z Cyber on Twitter. |
1:21.3 | For those who missed our last chat, just very quickly to get the credentialing out of the way. |
1:26.3 | What did you do in, so you're an attorney by training, now you're fighting for freedom for the First Amendment on the online world in which so many of us spend far too much of our time. |
1:38.4 | But what were your positions? What were you doing inside government, Mike, until recently? |
1:43.0 | Sure, so before I founded the Foundation for Freedom Online, I ran basically the cyber portfolio at the State Department. |
1:50.9 | The technical name was Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Communication Technology, which is a long way of saying I ran three different divisions at the State Department responsible for various aspects of US cyber policy on the global stage. |
2:05.4 | So, the formulation of policy, the negotiation and implementation, and then prior to that I was a White House speech writer and worked particularly on tech issues there as well. |
2:16.4 | So, let me ask a very basic question. What does the State Department have to do with cyber? |
2:25.0 | If you say cyber from the layman's perspective, you think of cyber crime and you think of cyber warfare? Well, neither of those apply to the State Department, you think of oh, social media, the Internet. |
2:38.2 | Well, for the State Department, that must be public diplomacy. That must be quote unquote the selling of the brand that is America. |
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