Chad Wolf, former acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, says no operational reason for the new Board to exist.
Nearly two weeks after a vague announcement from Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the White House has yet to abandon plans for more government censorship or provide more than a few bullet points of information about their intentions and purpose for a new so-called “Disinformation Governance Board” in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
“The creation of this Board in the Secretary’s office is unneeded and politicizes the Department’s mission,” said Chad Wolf, former acting Secretary of DHS. “There is no operational reason to take this responsibility from largely non-political operating components and move it to the Secretary’s office, which is filled with political appointees, including a politically charged individual with no government experience. The move represents a further politicization of the Department under the Biden Administration.”
Secretary Mayorkas announced the creation of a “Disinformation Governance Board” on April 27, 2022 (Politico Playbook), and according to DHS, the Board will be headquartered directly in the Secretary’s office. Secretary Mayorkas also announced Nina Jankowicz as the Board’s Executive Director and provided little to no information about the purpose of the Board. Jankowicz’s appointment is highly problematic, and when pressed to defend her past comments and credentials, Secretary Mayorkas could not answer.
Past viewpoints and comments from Ms. Jankowicz indicate she will:
Enforce Domestic Censorship, Undermining Freedoms Guaranteed by the Constitution
- “I shudder to think about if free speech absolutists were taking over more platforms, what that would look like for the marginalized communities…which are already shouldering…disproportionate amounts of this abuse.” (Nina Jankowicz Twitter)
- Supports censorship in Ukraine: “…the lure of shuttering adversarial media outlets under the guise of national security and “fighting fake news” may be too great for some leaders to resist.” (Blog Post)
- Supports censorship by Facebook and called those who questioned mask mandates and vaccination mandates during the pandemic “dangerous to democracy.” (Blog Post)
Weaponize the new Board for use against Her Political Opponents
- Said “Republicans and other disinformers” during a City Club of Cleveland meeting while also dismissing an incident of sexual assault that occurred in a Loudon County High School as a “political event.” (Twitter, MSN)
- “Biden ‘disinformation’ chief a Trump dossier author fan and Hunter Biden laptop doubter.” (The Washington Examiner)
- “We have just established a mis- and disinformation governance board in the Department of Homeland Security to more effectively combat this threat, not only to election security but to our homeland security.” (DHS Secretary Mayorkas)
Support Lockdowns, Mask-Mandates for Kids, and Violent Protests
- “I went for a hike today and it has turned me into a lockdown evangelist…I left home early, planned to stay at least 6 feet from other humans, and for about 75% of the trail, managed to do just that.” (Nina Jankowicz Twitter)
- “WHO ARE THESE PARENTS LETTING THEIR KIDS [referring to a high-school-aged couple] OUT ON DATES?! (They did not stay 6 feet away from me, despite a wide path)” (Nina Jankowicz Twitter)
- “…I think we as a country might be too… um, free-spirited?! (to put it diplomatically) to comply with social distancing recommendations unless they’re forced upon us. So force away! Lock us down. People are not taking this seriously. (Nina Jankowicz Twitter)
- “This is what democracy looks like,” with a video appearing alongside those protesting in Minnesota who were not social distancing. (Nina Jankowicz Twitter)
Make Questionable Decisions
- “Nina Jankowicz’s ability to be taken seriously in her role on Homeland Security’s new Orwellian “Disinformation Governance Board” was thrown into question after a cringeworthy TikTok video resurfaced of her adapting the Mary Poppins tune “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” to be about fake news. (The New York Post)
- Criticized her job in Poland as “anti-democratic online governance” and “I [Jankowicz] would never want to see our executive branch have that sort of power.” (Twitter)
Nina Jankowicz is a political partisan who has a history of promoting disinformation to fit her viewpoints. Given that, her new capacity is highly alarming and demands accountability from the current administration.