In December 2024 the Global engagement center (GEC), which was one of the U.S. public diplomacy’s (PD) entities, was closed. This article seeks to assess the possible impact it could have had on the American PD in general. Author studies the historical evolution of GEC’s several previous iterations within the State Department, which all were dedicated to countering violent extremism and terrorist propaganda. Analyzing the GEC’s mission, which made it different from predecessors because of the goal of countering the propaganda and disinformation of foreign states, article finds out that it was the first time in the U.S. PD’s history when the counter-propaganda function was formally added to the PD’s toolkit. Article studies closely how GEC’s activities have intensified since 2022 because of the information war between the U.S. and Russia. During this period the U.S. PD mostly focused its efforts on countering propaganda and disinformation, protecting American audience from foreign influence rather than trying to influence foreign audiences. Author discovers that those developments allowed GEC to assume one of the central roles within the U.S. PD system. Analyzing the circumstances that led to the GEC’s termination, including the censorship scandal and relevant accusations, article discovers that GEC simply became a collateral damage in the political fight between two parties. Author concludes that such tendency indicating how little American political leadership values the PD’s entities suggests a grim future for the U.S. PD in general, including its system’s further degradation.