Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today took Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to task on the DHS new invention, the “Disinformation Governance Board.
In a hearing in the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) entitled, “Resources and Authorities Needed to Protect and Secure the Homeland,” Lankford questioned Mayorkas about why the Department failed to answer his questions in a timely manner, and Lankford also questioned him on the Board Executive, Nina Jankowicz, and her antics on social media to provide her own version of “disinformation.” Ahead of today’s hearing, Lankford (R-OK) and his colleagues introduced legislation to stop federal funds from being used to establish the Board. Lankford posted about his immediate skepticism of the Board and its purpose on social media earlier this week.
Excerpts
On whether Lankford can expect more details on the Board and its purpose
Lankford: Is there a written mission statement, a strategy document, a principles, a charter, a job description on this Disinformation Governing Board? Are there written documents to explain what it is, what it is not, and what they’re doing?
Mayorkas: …There is a charter. You are correct, Senator, that the rollout with respect to this working group was sub-optimal, and we need to provide more information, not only to this Committee and Congress but to the American public…What this working group seeks to do is actually develop guidelines, standards, guard rails, to ensure that the work that has been ongoing for nearly 10 years does not infringe on people’s free speech rights, rights of privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. It was quite disconcerting frankly that the disinformation work that was well under way for many years across different administrations was not guided by guard rails.
On why Lankford is suspicious of the Board
Lankford: We have a practical question here. We don’t have a definition of what it is. We don’t have boundaries of what it does. The FBI already does this. The State Department already does this. And the person you tap to lead the disinformation campaign has been outspoken on TikTok and Twitter with disinformation, specifically on election issues. So we’re responding to something that’s unknown, and what we do know is disinformation coming from it. Why should we not have suspicions on this?
Original source can be found here.
