DHS advisory council recommends scrapping 'Disinformation Governance Board' following public outcry

An advisory council at the Department of Homeland Security is recommending that it does not move forward with the so-called "Disinformation Governance Board" following the intense public backlash the initiative received when it was first announced in April. 

A leaked draft memo from a DHS subcommittee meant to be finalized in early August signaled on Monday that there is "no need" for the 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 memo read. "However, at this point, we have concluded that there is no need for a Disinformation Governance Board."

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The memo did not specify the reasons that led to the advisory council's recommendation to not move forward with the board. 

A spokesperson for DHS told Fox News, "Secretary Mayorkas will meet with the Chairs of this HSAC [Homeland Security Advisory Council] subcommittee to discuss their recommendation and looks forward to their more comprehensive final report and recommendations regarding the work overall, which are expected to be delivered in August."

The leaked memo recommending the tossing of the disinfo board, as first reported by the Washington Post, came exactly two months after The Post first broke the news about the DHS decision to put the board "on pause."

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In April, the Biden administration was slammed with Orwellian comparisons as critics compared the "Disinformation Governance Board" with the "Ministry of Truth" from George Orwell's classic novel "1984."

While the rollout of the initiative received bipartisan criticism, the appointment of Nina Jankowicz as the board's executive director was widely panned among conservatives. 

Jankowicz, who went viral with her "Mary Poppins" disinformation parody song, drew intense scrutiny over her history of partisan tweets boosting Democratic candidates like Hillary Clinton. 

However, Jankowicz herself has had a history of peddling misinformation. 

During the 2020 presidential election, she declared the Hunter Biden laptop in the New York Post's reporting was a "Trump campaign product" and echoed the former intelligence officials who believed without evidence that the laptop was a Russian operation. She elevated the Trump-Russia collusion narrative during the 2016 election and the Trump presidency, and she also helped legitimize the discredited Steele dossier.

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Additionally, Jankowicz cast doubt on the Wuhan lab leak theory and suggested the Trump administration was leveraging it as a scapegoat. 

She resigned from the Biden administration as DHS shelved the disinfo board in May. 

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The media has widely portrayed Jankowicz as being the "victim" of right-wing attacks and said that "disinformation" was what took down the "Disinformation Governance Board."

However, in the several interviews Jankowicz has done since leaving the Biden administration, she has yet to be pressed about the specific falsehoods she pushed, which were at the center of the criticism she faced as the board's appointed director.