The DISARM Foundation is an anti-disinformation, open-source project that offers organizations support with identifying and countering perceived instances of disinformation. ¹

History

The DISARM Foundation grew out of a meeting of aligned activists at a hybrid warfare workshop in the summer of 2018. In 2019, members of this group, with the support of Craig Newmark Philanthropies, created Adversarial Misinformation Influence Tactics and Techniques (AMITT) as part of the MisinfoSec Standards Working Group and the Credibility Coalition. ²

In January 2020, AMITT formed the Cogsec Collaborative, which built and connected groups responding to perceived disinformation at no charge. ³

Cogsec Collaborative worked closely with the MITRE Corporation, a national security-focused nonprofit based in Mclean, Virginia, though was not directly managed by the latter. However, during this time, MITRE developed a parallel framework in partnership with Florida International University and activists Savina Joda and Daniel Sixto named SP!CE, which employed similar techniques and tactics. ^{4 5 6}

Later, SP!CE and AMITT merged to form DISARM, though the original SP!CE framework continued to operate as a MITRE-owned “fork,” which provides the organization with additional computational power. ⁷

In September 2021, the DISARM Foundation was registered as a tax-exempt charitable nonprofit organization in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, with the support of Public Democracy America and Alliance4Europe. The organization’s name is based on the main project of the group, the “Disinformation Analysis and Risk Management Framework,” an open-source tool for organizations seeking to identify and counter perceived disinformation. ^{8 9}

Since 2022, the development, testing, and deployment of the organization’s signature tool has been supported by the Alfred Landecker Foundation through Alliance4Europe. ¹⁰

Views

The DISARM Foundation uses the term “disinformation” to connote intentional, organized campaigns, particularly from foreign sources, to manipulate or interfere with the transmission of information or propound false information. The organization contrasts the latter with “misinformation,” which it defines as similar to the latter, but entailing transmission in good faith or though error. ¹¹

The DISARM Foundation suggests that users of its framework might be interested in countering harms related to disinformation activities involving threats to democratic structures, rule of law, trust in institutions, national security, and counter-terrorism efforts. ¹²

Activity

The DISARM Foundation’s framework has been used by organizations including the United Nations, World Health Organization, European Union, and NATO. ¹³

Funding and Partnerships

Funders and partner organizations of the DISARM Foundation include ARCHNE, Oasis Open, and Public Democracy. In its 2021 and 2022 filings with the Internal Revenue Service, the DISARM Foundation reports no expenses, net income, or assets. ¹⁴

Leadership

Jon Brewer is the executive director of the DISARM Foundation. Previously, he was the development director of the Global Cyber Alliance. ¹⁵

Pablo Breuer is the chair of the DISARM Foundation’s board of directors as well as an executive director for enterprise security architecture at Morgan Stanley and a non-resident senior fellow of the Atlantic Council‘s GeoTech Center. Previously, Breuer served in the United States Navy as the military director of the U.S. Special Operations Command Donovan Group; senior military advisor and innovation officer to SOFWERX, the National Security Agency, and U.S. Cyber Command; and director of C4 at U.S. Naval Forces Central Command. Additionally, Breuer has been on the faculties of the Naval Postgraduate School, National University, California State University, Monterey Bay, and Carnegie Mellon CERT/SEI. ¹⁶

Omri Preiss is the vice-chair of the DISARM Foundation’s board of directors as well as the managing director of Alliance4Europe. ¹⁷

Stephen Campbell is the chief technology officer of the DISARM Foundation, founder of Non-State Threat Intelligence, advisor to Eosedge Legal, and lead social media threat hunter for Sports-ISAO. ¹⁸

1. “A Brief History of DISARM.” DISARM Foundation. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://www.disarm.foundation/brief-history-of-disarm
2. “A Brief History of DISARM.” DISARM Foundation. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://www.disarm.foundation/brief-history-of-disarm
3. “A Brief History of DISARM.” DISARM Foundation. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://www.disarm.foundation/brief-history-of-disarm
4. “Who We Are.” MITRE. Accessed March 18, 2024 https://www.mitre.org/who-we-are
5. “A Brief History of DISARM.” DISARM Foundation. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://www.disarm.foundation/brief-history-of-disarm
6. “MITRE Corporation.” ProPublica. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/42239742
7. “A Brief History of DISARM.” DISARM Foundation. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://www.disarm.foundation/brief-history-of-disarm
8. “A Brief History of DISARM.” DISARM Foundation. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://www.disarm.foundation/brief-history-of-disarm
9. “DISARM Foundation.” ProPublica. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/871146271/202303189349103855/full
10. “A Brief History of DISARM.” DISARM Foundation. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://www.disarm.foundation/brief-history-of-disarm
11.  “DISARM – FAQ.” DISARM Foundation. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_4D_QyO2u3IADeYO37en3029IXUPxSZW/view
12. “DISARM – FAQ.” DISARM Foundation. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_4D_QyO2u3IADeYO37en3029IXUPxSZW/view
13. “A Brief History of DISARM.” DISARM Foundation. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://www.disarm.foundation/brief-history-of-disarm
14. “DISARM Foundation.” ProPublica. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/871146271/202303189349103855/full
15. “About Us.” DISARM Foundation. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://www.disarm.foundation/about-us#our-team
16. “About Us.” DISARM Foundation. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://www.disarm.foundation/about-us#our-team
17. “About Us.” DISARM Foundation. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://www.disarm.foundation/about-us#our-team
18. “About Us.” DISARM Foundation. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://www.disarm.foundation/about-us#our-team