# Sarah Rogers **Sarah B. Rogers** is the State Department's Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs: the official in charge of how the United States explains itself abroad, including its exchange programs and global messaging. A New York litigator before government, she has made "free speech" the brand of her office, aimed mostly at European laws regulating online platforms. In October 2026 she became the most visible example of the administration's free-speech double standard, when State Department pressure led three governments to disown a European disinformation conference over a panel that criticized the United States. See [[Disinfo2026 Conference]]. > [!info] Quick facts > - **Nominated:** February 12, 2025, while a partner at Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors in New York. > - **In office:** October 2025, after Senate confirmation. > - **Portfolio:** educational and cultural exchanges (including Fulbright) and global public affairs. > - **March 2026:** nominated as CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the parent of [[Voice of America]], after a court ruled [[Kari Lake]] was running the agency unlawfully. ## The December 2025 visa bans In late December 2025 the State Department barred five Europeans from the United States, accusing them of pressuring tech companies to censor American speech. [[Marco Rubio]] announced the policy; Rogers named the five on social media: - **Thierry Breton**, the former EU commissioner for digital affairs, whom she called the "mastermind" of the EU's Digital Services Act - **Imran Ahmed** of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, whom she called a "key collaborator with the Biden Administration's effort to weaponize the government against US citizens" - **Clare Melford** of the Global Disinformation Index, which she accused of using US taxpayer money "to exhort censorship and blacklisting of American speech and press" - **Josephine Ballon** and **Anna-Lena von Hodenberg**, who lead the German group HateAid Rubio: "The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship." ## The Vilnius conference (October 2026) At EU DisinfoLab's annual conference in Vilnius on October 7–8, 2026, one panel asked whether the United States itself should be treated as a source of foreign information manipulation. Before it opened, the State Department contacted European governments about their support. Canada, Lithuania and the EU's diplomatic service had their logos removed from conference materials. The State Department said it "should not be a surprise that countries would disaffiliate from this conference upon learning that it labeled the U.S. a 'FIMI threat.'" Full record: [[Disinfo2026 Conference]]. > [!warning] Single-source attribution > The *Guardian*, citing one source, reported that communications on the conference came from Rogers's office. LRT/BNS, Politico (as summarized by LRT) and Tech Policy Press attribute the pressure to the State Department without naming her. Treat her personal role as reported, not established, as of 2026-10-09. ## Why she matters Rogers is the point where the administration's anti-"censorship" campaign becomes foreign policy. The same office that bars European researchers in the name of free speech pushed allied governments to drop a panel because it criticized the United States. The office's own argument is that disinformation research is a form of censorship. Its October 2026 actions treat criticism of the US government as something allies should not sponsor. ## See also - [[Disinfo2026 Conference]] - [[Department of State]] · [[Marco Rubio]] - [[Free Speech]] · [[Censorship]] · [[Disinformation]] - [[Voice of America]] · [[Kari Lake]]