John,

Phil here. I’m gearing up for a big announcement in the coming days, and I want you to be the first to know.

But first, I’d like to give you an update on the future of the George Washington Initiative. When we launched last year, our nation had been exposed to a political environment hostile to truth.

January 6th was a wake-up call. Disinformation had leaped from the confines of online chat groups to the streets of DC and the halls of the Capitol. We could no longer afford to minimize the threat disinformation posed to our democracy.

The George Washington Initiative was born from the idea that people could be the solution to our generation’s greatest threat. In the year since our launch, we’ve organized thousands of people online to target disinformation ecosystems, located new narratives before they had a chance to spread to the mainstream, and worked tirelessly to be a barrier between disinformation and our democracy.

It’s been an honor to have worked with the George Washington Initiative. But in anticipation of my announcement in the next few days, my time with GWI must come to an end.

My main priority will always be to defend our democracy, and I am prepared to fight back against those who propagate disinformation.

I am immensely grateful to all those of you who supported the George Washington Initiative and am excited to see all that GWI has in store in the months and years ahead.

If you’d like to stay in touch and be the first to know of my announcement, I invite you to sign up here. →

Until next time,

Phil Ehr