DHS disinformation board's agenda remains a mystery
FILE - U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, on Capitol Hill on May 04, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)WASHINGTON - There is little credible information about the new Disinformation Governance Board.And that has made it an instant target for criticism.The board, part of the Department of Homeland Security, was announced last week.
But DHS has released few details on how the board will function and what powers it will have.The lack of transparency has put DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on the defensive and subjected the agency to criticism from Republican members of Congress who have already called for the board to be disbanded and the civil liberties groups that charge it could violate freedom of speech.With disinformation campaigns working to shape opinions on everything from the war in Ukraine to the presidential election in the United States, the rocky start for the board may undermine its effectiveness and hurt the efforts to staunch the harm that false narratives can cause."It is just an episodic failure," said Brian Murphy, a former director of DHS’ intelligence arm, of the board’s launch. "And it has set the true disinformation professionals, wherever they live, back."The board’s bungled rollout could also hurt existing efforts to identify and stop foreign disinformation campaigns, which have been labeled a national security threat by both Republican and Democratic administrations.Russia, China, and other adversaries have used social media to push messages at U.S.
United States
|
Cases: 46 252 513
Deaths: 750 423
Recovered: 0
|
India
|
Cases: 34 321 025
Deaths: 459 652
Recovered: 0
|
Brazil
|
Cases: 21 835 785
Deaths: 608 235
Recovered: 0
|
United Kingdom
|
Cases: 9 215 683
Deaths: 141 607
Recovered: 0
|
Russia
|
Cases: 8 494 589
Deaths: 237 619
Recovered: 0
|