The Integrity Initiative, a spooky psychological warfare project funded by British Ministry of Defence, is at the center of a growing scandal over the scope of efforts by the British government to influence public opinion both domestically and abroad in an anti-Russia direction. Reuters, the BBC, and Bellingcat, for instance, all participated in one of these government-funded programs.

Given the new stories, I went back and read the 2019 report about the Integrity Initiative, based on leaked documents by Mark Ames and Max Blumenthal. I saw that Sebastian Gorka allegedly had breakfast with the director of the Integrity Initiative, Chris Donnelly, in September 2018. Donnelly is a former military intelligence officer who has served as special advisor to four NATO Secretaries General.

There are several concerning things about this. 2018 would have been the height of the panic over Russian spying and disinformation that, to a large extent, prevented Donald Trump from having anything like a normal administration. Why is Gorka meeting with someone who appears to be a major architect of this panic? No disrespect to our friends across the pond, but Gorka owes us an explanation here.

The British-American military intelligence partnership may be, as GMU’s Hayden Center tweeted recently, the “greatest intelligence alliance in history,” but it’s not one noninterventionists have benefitted from. Contrary to the BBC story tweeted by the Hayden Center, the partnership began in 1940, not 1946, when FDR let MI6 set up shop in the Rockefeller Building, unleashing the perfidious anglo to smear his political enemies and critics of war. British intelligence was hostile to America First then, and there’s no reason to suspect that’s changed today. For their part it’s easy to see why, but Gorka claims to be for America First—in fact it’s the name of his radio show. So I texted him to see what was up:

Hi Seb, Arthur Bloom here from the American Conservative. I was hoping you might be able to enlighten us about some of the things you talked about with the Integrity Initiative’s Chris Donnelly when you met him for breakfast. … I know, as an ardent America Firster, you would not be collaborating with British intelligence agents in their 80-year effort to smear American war skeptics, but I think you can understand why it’s important for American patriots to ask for clarity about these things, given the skulduggery of the Trump years. Needless to say the other stops on his itinerary weren’t exactly with friends of President Trump.

He called me a few hours later to shout at me, refusing to explain but referring to Donnelly as a “friend.”

“Who the hell do you think you are to ask me what my private conversations are with a friend?”
“I think it’s germane to…”
“No. No. Who the f*** do you think you are?”
“…I’m a reporter.”
“Go to hell.”

Then he hung up. I texted him again to say, “Seb, this tough guy act doesn’t work. Is Donnelly a friend? That’s what you’ve just told me, but should he be? I don’t think he’s a friend to America First.”

The text was never delivered, and presumably he has blocked my number.