Sometimes the phrase “better late than never” is apt, but in this case, it should have been “better never.” The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has finally admitted that its ill-fated Disinformation Governance Board was not necessary.
The agency released a report on Monday explaining that it was still looking into ways to combat “disinformation” but that it is no longer focused on forming a group designed to address the matter.
“We have now had briefings on the relevant disinformation-related activities of the Department. We are not ready, as of yet, to provide recommendations on the Department’s most effective approach to disinformation threats, including commitments to increase transparency and protect civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy,” the DHS report read.
Later in the document, the agency said it has “concluded that there is no need for a Disinformation Governance Board.”
In other news, DHS has hired Captain Obvious to help craft the agency’s messaging.
A spokesman for the agency told the Daily Caller that DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas plans to meet with the heads of the group “to discuss their recommendation and looks forward to their more comprehensive final report and recommendations regarding the work overall, which are expected to be delivered in August.”
When DHS first established the board in May, it did not go over well, garnering criticism from both the right and the left. It only lasted for about three weeks, after which the idea was abandoned. Nina Jankowicz, the former head of the group, resigned due to “harassment.”
The board was ostensibly designed to combat the influence of disinformation coming from foreign actors. It was supposed to “develop guidelines, standards, guardrails to ensure that the work that has been ongoing for nearly 10 years does not infringe on people’s free speech rights, rights of privacy, civil rights and civil liberties,” according to DHS.
But critics called it an overreach and derisively referred to it as President Joe Biden’s “Ministry of Truth.” House Republicans introduced legislation that would defund the board. Jankowicz herself also came under scrutiny when it was revealed she also participated in the dissemination of disinformation regarding the lie that the Hunter Biden laptop was a Russian hoax. Mayorkas later claimed he had no knowledge of her comments on the story.
Jankowicz claims she is still experiencing harassment and blamed Republican Sens. Josh Hawley and Chuck Grassley, who criticized her. “I resigned my position at DHS 2 months ago today. Despite that, I continue to be defamed & threatened based on lies about the work I was hired to do,” she tweeted.
I resigned my position at DHS 2 months ago today. Despite that, I continue to be defamed & threatened based on lies about the work I was hired to do. I’m calling on @HawleyMo & @ChuckGrassley to stop amplifying these lies by needlessly attacking me. https://t.co/4fnTIGr5FU (1/5) pic.twitter.com/UA7kl3Kbka
— Nina Jankowicz 🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@wiczipedia) July 18, 2022
Fears about the governance board were not unfounded, especially with what the nation has seen over the past few years. Terms like “disinformation” and “misinformation” were just updated version of the “fake news” trope the left was peddling when former President Donald Trump was elected. Many pointed out that the true definition of these terms was: Anything Democrats don’t like. It was nothing more than a pretext used to justify the censorship of opposing beliefs.
Social media companies like Facebook and Twitter still use it to tamp down on ideas that contradict the left’s false narratives. In fact, the Biden administration used its position to pressure these companies to silence views on COVID-19 and the vaccines that were not Democrat-approved. To put it simply, nobody could trust the White House to refrain from politicizing the board.
This development does not mean that Biden’s White House has abandoned its mission to control the information people are allowed to see. We have already seen that the left is not above using dirty tricks or leveraging the state to its advantage. The Democrats are in a precarious position politically. They will undoubtedly pull out all the stops to give themselves an edge if they can.
