Brian Fitzpatrick, Republican representing Pennsylvania’s First Congressional District and Tom Suozzi, Democrat from New York’s Third District, are today’s version of Felix Unger and Oscar Madison from the TV sitcom “The Odd Couple.”

I recently met and talked with them while visiting Fitzpatrick’s home district. The two congressmen are elected by polar opposite constituencies (one Trumpy and the other rife with TDS), and they have vastly divergent backgrounds. Yet they joined as co-chairs of the Congressional “Problem-Solvers” caucus. When asked “why?”, Fitzpatrick frequently brings up the need to combat “FIMI.”

“FIMI, what is that?” I asked, revealing my status as a boomer from a remote corner of Idaho.

The acronym stands for “Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference.” It is now the term of art within NATO to describe an active effort to make the “American experiment” fail. The internet defines it as “coercive, deceptive, or disruptive information activities conducted by foreign actors with the intent to undermine democratic processes, social cohesion, or public trust.”

“I am astonished at the money our foreign adversaries are plowing into U.S. elections and political messaging,” Fitzpatrick asserted. “They are not pushing a red agenda, or a blue agenda; they just want to make Americans hate each other.”

Fitzpatrick doesn’t just complain about FIMI. He introduced the Block Foreign-Funded Political Ads Act to stop foreign nationals and entities from financing digital and social media political ads. He is also a sponsor of legislation to close loopholes that allow foreign nationals to fund state and local ballot measures, the Stop Foreign Funds in Elections Act.

What Fitzpatrick knows from reading U.S. intel reports is that the internet and social media are now tools of war. Use of FIMI to achieve military objectives is now documented, with the foreign actors frequently taking both sides of a conflict. Here are some examples:

BREXIT. Researchers at the University of Swansea performed an analysis of social media posts during the public referendum on whether Great Britain should remain or leave the European Union. They were surprised to find many of the most extreme and apocalyptic comments on either side came from one source: The Internet Research Agency in Russia.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. When a Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down over eastern Ukraine, social media erupted with theories, including (A) blaming a Ukrainian fighter jet, (B) alleging Ukrainian ground forces fired the Russia-made Buk missile themselves, or (C) asserting the crash was staged, the U.S. CIA planted bodies on an empty plane. All three “trending theories” originated with the same source in Russia.

COVID-19. Multiple terror watchdogs noted the corrupting influence of foreign military adversaries during debate in the United States concerning COVID-19. The U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published its findings under the following headline:

“Foreign governments have targeted U.S. and allied governments, the American people, and the citizens of allied countries with a wide range of disinformation, attempting to polarize politics and undermine confidence in government.”

Oddly, this headline was partially disputed by CIA analysts who noted that “disinformation” is frequently limited to “information which proves to be untrue.” But foreign adversaries were often fanning the flames of conflict using information that was, in fact, true.

Did the U.S. fund research on coronaviruses at Wuhan in China? Yes. Was that funding intended to shut down non-essential businesses in America? No evidence supports that. But imagine the hate and distrust possible between those two “true” statements.

Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are often cited as the lead FIMI purveyors. But other countries have noted how effectively the weapon works to disable and distract an enemy. With modern AI assistance, even small dictatorships can now immobilize U.S. opposition.

So next time you see something that makes you furious on social media, keep in mind “making you furious at a fellow American” may be its only end goal.