Artificial intelligence just got a starring role in political deception. In mid-June 2025, an unknown schemer used AI to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio, targeting high-level officials with eerie precision, as NBC News reports. This isn't just tech trickery -- it's a wake-up call for a nation already weary of digital deceit.
An unidentified person or group used AI-generated voice and text messages to pose as Rubio, reaching out to at least five prominent figures, including three foreign ministers, a U.S. governor, and a member of Congress. The campaign, uncovered by a State Department cable, mirrors a May 2025 FBI investigation into similar impersonations of senior U.S. officials. The audacity of faking Rubio’s voice to dupe global leaders reeks of a progressive playbook: confuse, manipulate, repeat.
The impersonator, cloaked behind the Signal app, used the display name marco.rubio@state.gov, a slick but hollow attempt to seem legitimate. Signal’s nickname feature, which doesn’t verify email access, made this ruse child’s play. One can’t help but wonder if Big Tech’s lax oversight is complicity in this chaos.
The fake Rubio sent at least one text urging a target to switch to Signal for communication. Two others received AI-crafted voice messages, likely designed to exploit trust in Rubio’s authority. This isn’t just a prank -- it’s a calculated strike at the heart of diplomatic security.
“The actor likely aimed to manipulate targeted individuals using AI-generated text and voice messages to gain access to information or accounts,” the State Department cable noted. Manipulate? That’s a polite way of saying “exploit.” The left’s obsession with AI as a utopian tool conveniently ignores its potential as a weapon.
The cable, sent to all U.S. diplomatic posts in early July 2025, warned of “cyber threat actors” impersonating State Department officials. It urged diplomats to alert external partners, a belated but necessary step. One wonders how many woke tech policies enabled this vulnerability in the first place.
This isn’t Washington’s first brush with AI fakery. In May 2025, the White House confirmed someone impersonated President Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, via texts and calls to officials. The pattern suggests a coordinated effort to undermine conservative leadership, cloaked in digital wizardry.
A senior State Department official confirmed the Rubio incident and said the agency is investigating. “The department takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard its information,” the official claimed. Yet, the same department’s sluggish response to cyber threats leaves one skeptical of their resolve.
“For security reasons, and due to our ongoing investigation, we are not in a position to offer further details at this time,” the official added. Translation: they’re scrambling to catch up while the culprits laugh. This stonewalling reeks of bureaucratic inertia, not competence.
Foreign disinformation campaigns are increasingly leaning on generative AI, like ChatGPT, to craft convincing English text. Add in voice-cloning tech, and distinguishing real from fake is nearly impossible. The left’s push for unregulated AI innovation is starting to look like a national security disaster.
“Information shared with a third party could be exposed if targeted individuals are compromised,” the State Department cable warned. That’s a diplomatic way of saying: trust no one. The stakes couldn’t be higher when a single misstep could leak sensitive data to hostile actors.
The Rubio impersonation reminds many of a March “Signalgate” fiasco, in which senior Trump officials accidentally included a journalist in a Signal chat about Yemen military strikes. That blunder exposed sloppy security; this AI scam reveals a far more sinister threat. One wonders if the administration’s critics will conveniently ignore this pattern.
While the State Department insists there’s no direct cyber threat to its systems, the risk lies in compromised officials sharing sensitive information. The cable’s warning to diplomats suggests a broader vulnerability in global communications. It’s high time Washington ditches its tech naïveté and gets serious about digital defense.
NBC News obtained the cable, with the Washington Post breaking the story first. The media’s sudden interest in AI threats is amusing, given their usual cheerleading for progressive tech agendas. Perhaps even they can’t ignore the danger when it targets their establishment allies.
This AI-driven deception targeting Rubio is a stark reminder: technology isn’t neutral when wielded by bad actors. Conservatives have long warned about unchecked digital innovation, only to be dismissed as Luddites. Maybe now, with Rubio’s voice cloned and diplomats duped, the woke tech crowd will finally listen -- or not.
