On April 27 morning, the Department of Homeland Security announced the creation of the first Disinformation Governance Board. It was announced with a very vague scope and goal to "coordinate countering misinformation related to homeland security."
The Biden administration tapped Nina Jankowicz to run the board as the executive director. Her history with less than nonpartisan think tanks and nonprofit sociopolitical activism companies as well as controversial books and past statements, left her appointment to the position heavily criticized.
This vagueness and continued lack of explanation of the board left many in Congress, on both sides, questioning the motives. Concerns of fascism techniques against freedom of speech such as censorship, government manipulation of discourse, and propaganda were a concern across the board. The similarity to famous fascism warnings from the book 1984's concept of a "Ministry of Truth", were universally obvious. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said it "could have done a better job of communicating what it is and what it isn't".
Concerns of the board being used to suppress free speech were abundant. "The Board's purpose has been grossly mischaracterized; it will not police speech," a DHS spokesperson said. "Quite the opposite, its focus is to ensure that freedom of speech is protected." This was without a hint of irony, as vetting of Jankowicz's social media posts had uncovered her suggesting that freedom of speech was myth, in the past.
On Monday, DHS decided to shut down the board, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation and by Tuesday, Jankowicz had drafted a resignation letter. DHS officials called to give her the choice to stay on, in case concerns of the public and Congress could be later resolved, according to multiple people with knowledge of the call.
Working groups within DHS focused on the Biden administration's disinformation plans have been suspended, though the board isn't fully shut down, just paused, pending a review from the Homeland Security Advisory Council.
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