Political insiders in Washington, D.C., have a long history of getting duped by foreigners pushing propaganda. The political agendas of these international players can range from largely innocent parochial issues to calls for U.S. military action to stop an injustice. Or in the case of Russian propagandists, to sway a national election that few people in the West are watching. The costs to governments and individuals affected by an erroneous information campaign from abroad can be great. When powerful U.S. officials and journalists fall for agenda-driven information, or rush to make decisions based on unchecked faulty data, the consequences can be devastating to reputations and even lives since the world tends to follow the U.S. media’s lead.

In 2003, Iraqi groups made the rounds in Washington, D.C., pushing faulty information about Saddam Hussein and Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. In 2011, Samantha Power and Hillary Clinton peddled a false narrative in order to force a regime change in Libya. And largely unknown con-artist Alan Abel spent decades duping the U.S. public and the American media on a plethora of phony stories he created to drive his personal agenda.