Biden’s New Disinformation Governance Board Is Already Expanding Its Scope

Biden’s New Disinformation Governance Board Is ALREADY Expanding Its Scope

Robert Spencer - PJ Media

Old Joe Biden’s ominous Disinformation Governance Board has just been announced, and it’s already expanding the scope of its responsibilities. Of course, that’s what government agencies do. They’re always looking to justify and increase their budgets, and so they’re always looking for new things to involve themselves in. But in this case, the expansion makes the agency in question even more dangerous to the American people than it was already.

When Politico revealed the existence of the Board in an offhanded statement buried 60 paragraphs down in its Wednesday “Politico Playbook,” it said that the Department of Homeland Security was “standing up a new Disinformation Governance Board to coordinate countering misinformation related to homeland security, focused specifically on irregular migration and Russia.” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, however, went farther than that almost immediately, saying on Thursday: “We have just established a mis- and 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.” And when Jen Psaki defended Biden’s new Ministry of Truth on Thursday, she went farther still: “We know there has been a range of [disinformation] out there about a range of topics, I mean, including COVID for example, and also elections and eligibility.”

Was Psaki announcing more responsibilities for the Disinformation Governance Board, beyond what Politico had reported and what Mayorkas had said? It was hard to tell, as she sounded as if she was simply pointing out some of the areas in which supposed “disinformation” had circulated. However, she is the press secretary. What she says is generally the official line of the Biden administration. If she didn’t mean to say that the Disinformation Governance Board will be clamping down on what Biden’s handlers claim is “disinformation” about COVID and eligibility (we already know from Mayorkas that the Board will be working against election “disinformation”), she will have to make an additional clarifying statement. Whether or not she does that, it is also true that when Fox’s Jacqui Heinrich asked for more details about what exactly the Disinformation Governance Board would be doing, Psaki professed not to have much information: “I really haven’t dug into this exactly, I mean, we of course support this effort but let me see if I can get more specifics.”

Yes, of course Psaki supports this flagrantly unconstitutional effort to police what Americans say and think. She even professed to be surprised that anyone would oppose this sinister new initiative: “It sounds like the objective of the board is to prevent disinformation and misinformation from traveling around the country in a range of communities. I’m not sure who opposes that effort.”

Well, let’s start with everyone who realizes that yesterday’s “disinformation” — Trump didn’t collude with Russia, Hunter Biden’s laptop contains evidence of influence-peddling with Joe Biden’s involvement — is today’s breaking news. Then there are those who are deeply concerned that the government will crack down on dissenting opinions under the guise of fighting “disinformation.” In short, anyone who understands the vital importance of the freedom of speech will oppose the very existence of the Disinformation Governance Board, and be even more alarmed by the fact that it started out on Wednesday focusing on alleged disinformation concerning illegal migration and Russia, and by the very next day had already apparently expanded its purview to include COVID, as well as “elections and eligibility.”

Some of the critics of the new board are speaking out. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) tweeted: “Rather than police our border, Homeland Security has decided to make policing Americans’ speech its top priority. They’re creating a Disinformation Board. No, really. And take a look at the views of the leftist radical running it.” Hawley then included screenshots of tweets from the new Disinformation Governance Board top dog, Nina Jankowicz, in which she referred to “America’s systemic racism,” criticized (oh, the irony, it burns) Trump for “authoritarianism,” and warned against “free speech absolutists” (that one was just from last Monday). As PJ’s Rick Moran detailed Thursday, Jankowicz is an experienced disinformation peddler herself, which only makes her appointment even more of a concern: it’s clear that Biden’s handlers aren’t trying to maintain even a semblance of even-handedness here. When they say “disinformation,” they mean “conservative opinions” and “criticism of the Left.”

There is plenty more of that criticism in areas other than those Alejandro Mayorkas and Jen Psaki have already enumerated as the responsibilities of the Disinformation Governance Board. So watch for its mission to expand even more. And more. And more.