In rebuke to Biden, Homeland Security advisory panel finds no need for disinformation board

An expert advisory panel for the Homeland Security Department on Monday evening issued a sobering rebuke of the Biden administration, declaring that there was no need to have created a Disinformation Governance Board.

“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,” the panel wrote in a short memo.

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

The recommendation of the panel headed by former Bush administration Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff and former Clinton administration official Jamie Gorelick was immediately cheered by congressional Republicans as proof the Biden administration overstepped its bounds with a proposal that often drew comparisons to George Orwell’s Ministry of Truth.

“From its initially botched rollout, the ‘Ministry of Truth’ lacked a defined mission or even direction. It was clear it was a political tool to be wielded by the party in control,” House Homeland Security Republicans tweeted.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., added: “DHS decides today there was no need for its unconstitutional Disinformation Board after all.”

The creation of the board was panned on all sides of the political aisle, and led to the resignation of its original director Nina Jankowicz earlier this year.