Biden's Disinformation Board 'Paused' By DHS Three Weeks After Launch
May 18 2022, Published 2:11 p.m. ET
The Department of Homeland Security Disinformation Governance Board, announced with great fanfare by the Department of Homeland Security on April 27, has been “paused,” according to the Washington Post.
The decision was made Monday and Nina Jankowicz, the 33-year-old academic chosen to head the agency, followed a day later with a draft resignation letter.
The reported confirmed Jankowicz officially resigned May 18.
“Nina Jankowicz has been subjected to unjustified and vile personal attacks and physical threats,” a DHS spokesperson told The Post. “In congressional hearings and in media interviews, the Secretary has repeatedly defended her as eminently qualified and underscored the importance of the Department’s disinformation work, and he will continue to do so.”
“The Board’s purpose has been grossly mischaracterized; it will not police speech,” the spokesperson continued. “Quite the opposite, its focus is to ensure that freedom of speech is protected.”
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The report deems Jankowicz's brief arc a classic example of how right-wing forces on the Internet operate. They identify a target such as Jankowicz, create a false narrative and then spread it via social media and the regular media.
A most ironic situation, in this case, given the fact that it was all about a Disinformation Governance Board.
There are also charges in the article against the Joe Biden administration. Various insiders said Jankowicz was “set up to fail” by the government's shaky messaging about the new agency and its subsequent inability to counter the malicious online campaign.
The Post article includes a comprehensive detailing of the disinformation campaign, which began with immediate charges by Jack Posobiec on Twitter that the board was an Orwellian “Ministry of Truth.” That line was picked up by Republican lawmakers, and spread from there.