NEWS WRAP

Public health or healthy democracy?

• Wisconsin voters have had to face jeopardising their health to exercise their right to vote after Democratic Governor Tony Evers' attempts to delay the state's primary were quashed. Governor Evers had issued an executive order which extended the deadline for absentee ballots until June and postponed in-person voting. Republican state leaders and a conservative majority on the Supreme Court joined forces to block the move. The Supreme Court justices said the change would “fundamentally [alter] the nature of the election”. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented, saying she feared the court’s order would “result in massive disenfranchisement”. READ MORE HERE
   
• President Trump and Democratic presidential front runner Joe Biden have spoken over the phone in a display of bipartisanship on the US coronavirus response. President Trump said the call lasted for about 15 minutes, describing it as a “wonderful, warm conversation”. The call comes after months of harsh criticisms thrown between the pair. Biden previously criticised the Trump administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden’s campaign released a statement which said the former vice president had “shared several suggestions for action the Administration can take”. The pair agreed not to disclose the full contents of the conversation publicly. READ MORE HERE
   
• The head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has expressed concern over the alarming rates of coronavirus infection amongst black Americans in some states. Dr Anthony Fauci was responding to figures released by several states and cities which show African Americans in the US experiencing disproportionately higher rates of infection and fatalities from COVID-19. Dr Fauci said the health disparities between white Americans and minorities are "unacceptable" during a White House press conference. In Illinois, 43 per cent of people who have succumbed to COVID-19 were African Americans, and in Louisiana they represent 70 per cent of the people who have died. READ MORE HERE
   
• Acting US Navy Secretary Thomas Modly has resigned after his handling of the USS Theodore Roosevelt coronavirus crisis attracted widespread criticism. Modly sparked controversy after he fired Captain Brett Crozier for displaying “extremely poor judgement” when he widely distributed a letter calling for help with a COVID-19 outbreak on his ship. Moldy later told the crew that Captain Crozier was either “too naïve or too stupid” to be in charge.  In an article for the Lowy Interpreter, the Director of the USSC's Foreign Policy and Defence Program, Ashley Townshend and Non-Resident Senior Fellow Dr Jim Golby argue that the US military is “struggling to balance the health of its personnel with its own day-to-day defence responsibilities at home and abroad”. READ MORE HERE

ANALYSIS

Conspiracy in the Time of Coronavirus

Brendan Thomas-Noone
Research Fellow, Foreign Policy and Defence

James Holloway
Research Assistant, Foreign Policy and Defence

Near the Port of Los Angeles last Wednesday, San Pedro train engineer Eduardo Moreno intentionally derailed the freight train he was driving, smashing through several concrete barriers and a parking lot. The crash occurred within 800 yards of the USNS Mercy, a hospital ship currently stationed in the Port of Los Angeles assisting with the city’s COVID-19 response.

Though no one was injured in the incident, Moreno confessed to law enforcement that he carried out the crash on purpose and that he was motivated by a belief that the USNS Mercy was not being used to alleviate pressure on the city’s health system, but that it “had an alternate purpose related to COVID-19 or a government takeover.” His stated goal, he told police, was to “wake people up.”

Moreno isn’t alone in his paranoia. In late March the White House’s National Security Council, Senator Marco Rubio and other government officials were forced to debunk rumours and conspiracy theories that a declaration of martial law was imminent in the United States. Afterwards, the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, said that Russia and other groups are attempting to “sow discord on any controversial issue… as part of a disinformation campaign.”

While differing elements of the US government were aligned in pushing back on the martial law theory circulating over text messages and social media, the importance of consistent and sharp messaging is only becoming more important – and difficult – during the coronavirus pandemic. A public health crisis like COVID-19 requires collective action, discipline and endurance in both communication and community action.

This will be incredibly difficult in an age of social media and the growing ‘weaponisation’ of conspiracy theories by both foreign and domestic actors, to which the United States seems especially vulnerable.

It has been well-documented how Russian information warfare operatives took advantage and stoked political division and conspiracy theories in the lead-up to the 2016 Presidential election. The operatives created competing fake Facebook events, drawing protestors and angry crowds, and pushed narratives based on existing conspiracy theories on social media. Most recently, US intelligence officials reportedly briefed Congress on a false Russian-backed circulated narrative that the 2016 election interference originated in Ukraine – a talking point many Republicans used in defending President Trump during his impeachment hearings.

For many governments across the world, the ability to maintain control over political and social narratives in the online realm has become a growing national security concern. In Australia, the government responded in 2017 by forming the Information Warfare Division within the Department of Defence. In January, the Washington Post reported that the US Cyber Command is considering deploying information warfare tactics against Russian officials if they are deemed to be interfering in the upcoming 2020 election.

But there is only so much these - largely military - organisations can or should be doing in combating disinformation and weaponised conspiracy theories in Australia and the United States. Laying the foundations of the information space starts at the top. President Trump’s well-documented success in turning conspiracy theories against political opponents or using them for short-term tactical advantage over the past five years may have laid the groundwork for foreign actors to spread confusion, dissent and disunity during the coronavirus pandemic.

This is an abridged version of the article available on our dedicated COVID-19 blog. 

VIRTUAL EVENT

Lessons learned from the US response to COVID-19

While the United States is now reporting hundreds of deaths from COVID-19 every day, Australia has so far seen a total of less than 100 deaths since the pandemic began. But is Australia on a similar path to the United States? Are parts of the United States already “flattening the curve”? What public health lessons can be learned from the US experience thus far?

To discuss these issues, please join us for a webinar event featuring United States Studies Centre CEO Professor Simon Jackman in conversation with Professor Raina Macintyre, an emerging infectious diseases professor at the Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney and a member of the expert panel advising the Australian government on the coronavirus response.

When: Tuesday, 14 April, 10AM AEST via Zoom

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