MISINFORMATIONDHS’s ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ Assailed by Lawmakers
A proposed new DHS working group focusing on countering disinformation has run into a buzzsaw of opposition from members of Congress. Some have characterized the would-be Disinformation Governance Board as an Orwellian body threating free speech. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, in a congressional hearing, scrambled to defend the new board.
A new coordinating body proposed by the Department of Homeland Security to focus its efforts on countering disinformation has run into a buzzsaw of opposition from members of Congress. Some have characterized the would-be Disinformation Governance Board as a dystopian threat to free speech.
The new working group was announced with little fanfare last week and almost immediately generated an intense reaction from lawmakers, primarily Republicans, who accused the agency of attempting to stifle free expression.
A group of Republican lawmakers led by Representative James Comer, the senior Republican on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, attacked the group in a letter that said, in part, “The creation of the ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ appears to double down on this administration’s continued abuse of taxpayer dollars and the federal government’s powers to attack Americans who disagree with its policies, smearing them as extremists and perpetrators of ‘mis- dis- and mal-information.’”
Damage Control Efforts
The attacks left DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas scrambling to defend the board in appearances on Sunday television talk shows and through a fact sheet distributed by the department on Monday.
“The Department is deeply committed to doing all of its work in a way that protects Americans’ freedom of speech, civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy,” the fact sheet said.
It described the board as being “established with the explicit goal of ensuring these protections are appropriately incorporated across DHS’s disinformation-related work and that rigorous safeguards are in place.” It also stressed that the board “does not have any operational authority or capability,” meaning that it will not operate as a law enforcement agency.
Congressional Testimony
Mayorkas on Wednesday appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Homeland Security Subcommittee and continued his effort to convince lawmakers that the new working group was designed to do precisely the opposite of what its detractors were claiming.
“The department does not combat speech,” he said. “The department is involved in protecting the homeland, protecting the security of the homeland, and we become involved (with speech) when there is a connectivity to violence.”
