WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security paused its new disinformation governance board Wednesday and the board’s director will resign, following weeks of criticism from Republicans and questions about whether the board would impinge on free speech rights.
While the board was not formally shuttered, it will be reviewed by members of a DHS advisory council that’s expected to make recommendations in 75 days. Nina Jankowicz, picked to lead the board, wrote in her resignation letter that the board’s future was “uncertain,” according to her letter, obtained by The Associated Press.
Federal and state agencies treat disinformation as a national security threat. But the new board was hampered from the start by questions about its purpose and an uneven rollout that further confused its mission. The phrase “Ministry of Truth” — a reference to George Orwell’s “1984” — has repeatedly trended online in discussions about the board.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas made the decision in response to the cumulative negative reaction and growing concerns that it was distracting from the department’s other work on disinformation, according to two department officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
“The Board has been grossly and intentionally mischaracterized: it was never about censorship or policing speech in any manner,” the department said in a statement. “It was designed to ensure we fulfill our mission to protect the homeland, while protecting core Constitutional rights.”
Conservative pundits and right-leaning media have often focused directly on Jankowicz, a researcher on Russian disinformation named to lead the board. Critics have pointed to statements made by Jankowicz that questioned the provenance of a laptop said to belong to Hunter Biden, the president’s eldest son, and replayed a TikTok video she taped about disinformation to the tune of a song from “Mary Poppins.”
Some attacks on Jankowicz used sexist and anti-Semitic slurs. A Fox News personality recently questioned whether Jankowicz should have agreed to lead the board while pregnant.
Supporters of Jankowicz have accused the department of not doing enough to protect her from trolls and online attacks.
“It is deeply disappointing that mischaracterizations of the board became a distraction from the Department’s vital work, and indeed, along with recent events globally and nationally, embodies why it is necessary,” Jankowicz wrote in her resignation letter.
DHS officials have described the board as an internal working group intended to study definitions of disinformation across the department. They have not explained why they chose Jankowicz, who is not a lawyer and had a well-known public profile.
The department’s Homeland Security Advisory Council will now review how the department can address disinformation while protecting free speech and how DHS can improve trust in its work on disinformation.
Russia has tried to influence the last two presidential elections by boosting false stories and using social media to inflame divisions in American society on issues like race and the coronavirus pandemic. It has continued to spread false and misleading narratives about its invasion of Ukraine. U.S. intelligence officials have also accused China and Iran of peddling disinformation to Americans.
Experts on disinformation warned the controversy around the board could hurt existing efforts to identify and stop the spread of false narratives about elections and hot-button issues in American society. DHS has several ongoing programs to counter disinformation, including the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s efforts to debunk claims of election fraud.
Some speculated the board was developed by DHS in response to billionaire Elon Musk’s plan to buy Twitter, driven in part by a desire to loosen the platform’s rules around tweets. Others put out false claims that Jankowicz planned to edit the tweets of everyday Twitter users.
Mayorkas announced the creation of the board in late April, saying it would highlight Russian disinformation and false claims that encourage people to migrate to the U.S.-Mexico border. The board was immediately controversial, with Republican lawmakers questioning whether President Joe Biden’s administration was trying to police narratives it opposed.
The top Republicans on two key congressional oversight committees said they had a “complete lack of information about this new initiative.” And Mayorkas was attacked repeatedly over the board in recent appearances on Capitol Hill. Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, told Mayorkas the board was a “terrible idea” that “communicates to the world that we’re going to be spreading propaganda in our own country.”
DHS also faced the prospect of a lawsuit. Twenty Republican attorneys general, led by Jason Miyares of Virginia, threatened Mayorkas with legal action “unless you turn back now and disband this Orwellian Disinformation Governance Board immediately,” Miyares said in a statement.
The Washington Post first reported the board would be paused.
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GLAD TO HEAR THAT !!!!!
How about enforcing the immigration laws while you’re at it.
The Former ( Black) Community Organizer, President of the United States, for two Terms, Barack H. Obama once Said, ” America is, and always will be, A Nation of immigrants . ” What Two Term black, President , Barack H. Obama forgot to say was , ” illegal immigrants are just undocumented democrat voters. ” Author of Quote, Unknown
Expecting a dem, to actually ya know, ENFORCE THE LAWS ALREADY existing, is like expecting a snowball to survive in hell.
AIN’T gonna happen.
Pausing to a liberal cockroach is just hiding it under the baseboards until it’s safe to come out and eat your lunch again. Oh, how they do work best in the darkness when the light of real truth cannot expose them and their preplanned intended evil. If they fondle your brains, they will not hesitate to fondle your kids when nobody is looking. He himself is a poster child of the party of political pack of perverts, obviously previously mind molested himself when young, defenseless and vulnerable, taught to live off the crumbs of what was baked by others. I’m surprised he has the guts to shave his head, lest the tatoo’d 666 be revealed, which like his hidden true intentions in his case was put in with invisible ink.
The best Anti- Septic Is Shinging The Bright Light Of Truth on A Lie Told By The democrat elite, to paraphrase a Quotes Author.
I Think that Friedrich Netzsche hit-the-Nail right On The Head, when he said, “All Thins Are Subject To Interpretation Whichever Interpetation Prevails At A Given Time Is A Function Of Power, And Not Truth. “
“The Department of Homeland Security paused its new disinformation governance board Wednesday….”
Sure they did! For the first time ever the Left gave an inch without drawing blood.
“…..it was never about censorship or policing speech in any manner,”
Leftsplanation: Cencorship is simply a tool. CONTROL is what it is about.
“Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of Truth.” Albert Einstein
AND SINCE their attempt to control everyone, was SEEN FOR WHAT IT WAS, they got their hands slapped..
I am pleased to learn that the massive outcry from freedom loving Americans has forced the DHS to place its Disinformation Governance Board on hold and convinced radical leftist loon Nina Jankowicz to resign from her position as Director. Although this is a victory for free speech, it may only be temporary. I would not be surprised if the egregiously dishonest Biden-Harris Administration simply renames the board to something patriotic sounding like the Protection of Free Speech Board and maintains its original mission of censoring criticism of the administration and its divisive and destructive policies. Our rulers have clearly demonstrated that there is no limit to how low they will sink in order to maintain their tight grip on power.
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, THE democrats’ Hoped GEORGE GOBEL WAS RIGHT.‘Ministry Of Truth’: Mayorkas Pauses Disinformation Board Amid Negative Reaction
GEORGE Goble, HITLERS PROPAGANDA MINISTER
The Dems will never, ever give up power. Read between the lines… it is just paused (yeah right) meaning it is about to go into overdrive. Jankowicz might have resigned but that is just cover so people stop talking about it.
True. NAME ONE govt org or program, that has ever ACTUALLY GONE AWAY, once dems created it.!?!? Here’s a hint, NEVER!
As Reported on Fox News, Today, ” Clinton Approved dissimination Of Trump , Russian Colusion” according to Fox News Today. ” Tell A Big Lie Often Enough…. “
The democrat, Socialist, Communist party of America Believes that Their ” Fairytale , ” Alls Well, Is True And according to the democrat elite Biden is on top of this Economy but I know that the Middle Class know Better. Lewis Carol could have been writing about Joe Bide and his elusions About The Economy when he said, ” If It Was So, It Might Be, And If It Were So, It Would Be; But As It Isn’t , It Ain’t,
Thats Logic. “
“ false claims that encourage people to migrate to the U.S.-Mexico border”. But the true claims, made by the Biden administration, which encourage people to migrate to the Mexican border, those are okay, right?
Mayorkas, Ministery of Truth, Oh , Thats A Good One !. Mayorkas, ” Did I Ever Lie T0 you before. ” Author Unknown