DHS Shuts Down Disinformation Governance Board, Months After Pause

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Aug. 24 said it has officially shut down its controversial Disinformation Governance Board, months after the newly created entity was paused amid widespread concern that it would be weaponized against dissenting voices and become a tool for government censorship.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “has terminated the Disinformation Governance Board and rescinded its charter effective today, August 24, 2022,” the department said in a statement.

The DHS said it “welcomes” recommendations from the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) subcommittee, which earlier in the day advised Mayorkas that there is “no need for a separate Disinformation Governance Board.”

“But it is our assessment that the underlying work of Department components on this issue is critical,” the HSAC report reads. “The Department must be able to address the disinformation threat streams that can undermine the security of our homeland.”

The department acknowledged that the HSAC “has concluded that countering disinformation that threatens the homeland, and providing the public with accurate information in response, is critical to fulfilling the Department’s missions.”

“With the HSAC recommendations as a guide, the Department will continue to address threat streams that undermine the security of our country consistent with the law, while upholding the privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties of the American people and promoting transparency in our work.”

Concerns Over Censorship

Mayorkas first announced the Disinformation Governance Board initiative in late April, when he was asked by Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) at a congressional hearing what the DHS was doing to ensure election security and prevent misinformation in the electoral process, in the lead-up to the 2022 midterms.

“We have just established a 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,” Mayorkas said at the time, adding that the

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