Homeland Security Advisers: 'There Is No Need for a Disinformation Governance Board'

Advisers to the Department of Homeland Security determined that the Disinformation Governance Board is not necessary at this time, according to an interim report released Monday.

The Biden administration created the board as a method to combat disinformation on April 27 but it was scrapped just three weeks later amid intense criticism of its premise.

DHS’s Disinformation Best Practices and Safeguards Subcommittee said in the report:

“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,”

“However, at this point, we have concluded that there is no need for a Disinformation Governance Board,” they added.

The board was led by Nina Jankowicz, who became the subject of scrutiny from conservatives and Republican lawmakers for her vocal political views and her leadership on the board.

“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 [Sen. Josh Hawley] & [Sen. Chuck Grassley] to stop amplifying these lies by needlessly attacking me,” Jankowicz tweeted Monday, with a letter attached explaining her grievances in greater detail.

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

Conservatives were not the only ones skeptical of the agency.

“They only have themselves to blame for this firestorm,” Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project told Politico in May. “They announced something with a creepy name and provided no information about the scope or authorities of the board.”