Keep Firewall Regulation revoked so leadership can oversee false or mission-violating content
Mandate celebrates Trump-era revocation of the midnight Firewall Regulation that barred agency management from content oversight—even of false content—and treats restoration of management oversight as necessary reform.
Mandate
Mandate Ch. 8 (Media Agencies / USAGM) — Firewall Saga: Firewall Regulation entered Federal Register on eve of Pack confirmation throttling CEO authority; forbade management oversight of content even if false; ran counter to Smith–Mundt; Trump USAGM leadership revoked it after DOJ review; chapter frames weak oversight and firewall abuse as core mission failure.
Undo plan
1) Reinstate a clear journalistic firewall regulation separating political appointees from day-to-day editorial decisions while allowing ethics/standards enforcement.
2) Prohibit White House/State story assignment or kill authority over VOA/grantee news.
3) Restore independent standards editors and public corrections processes.
4) Affirm Smith–Mundt domestic-dissemination limits without using them to gag critical foreign reporting.
5) Verify: annual firewall compliance report to Congress; IG sampling of political intervention complaints.