DHS Shuts Down Disinformation Board Months After 'Pause'

DHS announced that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, pictured, "has terminated the Disinformation Governance Board and rescinded its charter." (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

By    |   Thursday, 25 August 2022 08:28 AM EDT ET

The Department of Homeland Security has dissolved its disinformation board more than three months after saying the council had been "paused."

The Disinformation Governance Board in mid-May was paused and its executive director resigned following much criticism surrounding her appointment.

On Wednesday, DHS announced that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas "has terminated the Disinformation Governance Board and rescinded its charter."

"The Department welcomes the recommendations of the Homeland Security Advisory Council [HSAC], which has concluded that countering disinformation that threatens the homeland, and providing the public with accurate information in response, is critical to fulfilling the Department's missions,” DHS said in a statement.

"We thank the Subcommittee for its work, which required extensive fact gathering and analysis over a short period of time."

Mayorkas in late-April announced that the department was creating a new board designed to counter "misinformation'" related to domestic security.

Republicans immediately took issue with Executive Director Nina Jankowicz, who had a history of partisan posts on social media that may have, themselves, spread "disinformation," such as calling the New York Post's initial October 2020 story on Hunter Biden's laptop "Russian disinformation, and false."

Jankowicz also had fueled allegations stemming from the since-discredited Steele dossier and has promoted other baseless Trump-Russia collusion claims.

DHS employees and Capitol Hill staffers told The Washington Post that Jankowicz had been set up to fail by an administration that was unsure of its messaging and unprepared to deal with criticism surrounding her.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., led a group of Republican senators who introduced legislation that would kill the board by prohibiting federal dollars funding it.

DHS said the dissolution of the board will not stop the department from addressing threats "that undermine the security of our country."

"With the HSAC recommendations as a guide, the Department will continue to address threat streams that undermine the security of our country consistent with the law, while upholding the privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties of the American people and promoting transparency in our work," the DHS statement said.

In June, the White House revealed in a briefing that Vice President Kamala Harris would lead a new "disinformation" task force that had been delegated authority to develop regulations to protect public figures from so-called disinformation and harassment.

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The Department of Homeland Security has dissolved its disinformation board more than three months after saying the council had been "paused."
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Thursday, 25 August 2022 08:28 AM
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