The Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) has released a report titled “Democratic Socialists of America: Policy, Advocacy, and Narrative Convergence with Hostile Foreign States”.
Thie report, released on Jan. 21, focusses on tracking ideological contagion, malign influence, disinformation, and foreign interference in U.S. civic spaces.
The report’s bottom-line assessment (BLUF) and executive summary argue that the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) shows several indicators that could warrant scrutiny under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
The main points include:
- Repeated delegations by DSA members or delegations to countries like Venezuela, Cuba, and China (all subject to U.S. sanctions).
- These trips reportedly involved foreign-facilitated access, in-kind benefits (e.g., luxury accommodations, transportation, exclusive meetings with regime officials, credentialed election observation roles), which may not have been fully disclosed.
- Post-trip advocacy: After these engagements, DSA launched coordinated U.S.-based campaigns aligning with those governments’ priorities, such as anti-sanctions efforts, opposition to embargoes, calls to remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, defenses of electoral processes in those countries, and framing U.S. policies as imperialist interference.
- Narrative convergence: Using data analysis (including large-language modeling and timing of messaging spikes), the report claims DSA’s rhetoric and campaigns show “time-locked” alignment with state media/propaganda from these countries. Domestic activism (e.g., anti-ICE efforts, framing U.S. institutions as fascist or tied to foreign policy) is portrayed as converging with or serving as a “domestic front” in broader geopolitical conflicts involving those states.
- FARA relevance: The report points to DSA’s own statements about building “ongoing partnerships” and “formal channels” with foreign entities, combined with the lack of FARA registration despite apparent benefits and aligned advocacy, as grounds for a compliance inquiry.
Adam Sohn, co-founder of the Network Contagion Research Institute said, “The same rhetoric used to attack America abroad gets recycled at home to attack American law enforcement. Different stage, same script. The language doesn’t stop overseas.”
Sohn is scheduled to testify Tuesday at a 10 a.m. hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee, titled, “Foreign Influence in American Non-profits: Unmasking Threats from Beijing and Beyond.”
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