The new managing director of a US watchdog set up to fight Russian “disinformation” advised the Ukrainian government. The US Department of Homeland Security has appointed Nina Jankowicz, previously also a propagandist for the Democratic Party.
Jankowicz has advised the Ukrainian government on strategic communicationsin her role as a holder of a Fulbright-Clinton Public Policy Fellowship.
The Biden administration instructed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to set up a “disinformation governance board” according to the Epoch Times. The new DGB authority will combat “disinformation” and protect “freedom of expression, privacy and civil rights”.
However, Jankowicz is a Democratic party political activist with a long history of spreading fake news. She has falsely described the Hunter Biden laptop leaks as disinformation. Jankowicz incidentally has written several books, including in 2020 How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict.
As a reminder, confidential emails released by The New York Post before the previous election were dismissed by the Democrats as “Russian disinformation”. It revealed how the Biden family were mired in transactions in Ukraine worth millions of dollars and possible corruption. But the New York Times has since confirmed the authenticity of the e-mails. At the time, Democrats had claimed that the emails were not authentic. Party operatives now face legal challenges for spreading lies about Russian meddling.
Republicans call for the dissolution of the DGB
Republicans called for the body to be scrapped right away. Senator Josh Hawley responded to the announcement: “It can only be assumed that the sole purpose of this new Disinformation Governance Board (DGB) will be to marshal the power of the federal government to censor conservative and dissenting speech.”
He expressed his disbelief: “I confess, I at first thought this announcement was satire. Surely no American Administration would ever use the power of Government to sit in judgement on the First Amendment speech of its own citizens?
“Sadly, I was mistaken. Rather than protecting our border or the American homeland, you have chosen to make policing Americans’ speech your priority. This new board is almost certainly unconstitutional and should be dissolved immediately.”
According to Hawley, it can only be assumed that “the sole purpose of this new Disinformation Governance Board (DGB) will be to marshal the power of the federal government to censor conservative and dissenting speech”.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy described Biden’s new Ministry of Truth as “Orwellian”. “Leave it to Democrats to think free speech is the problem and more government is the solution,” McCarthy told The Daily Wire. “The notion that the same party that spent four years promoting the Russia collusion hoax, suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story, and equated parents to domestic terrorists believes it has the credibility to tell Americans what is true is laughable,” he added.
“The idea that the federal government should control speech sounds uncomfortably close to the Thought Police. Biden must immediately abandon his plan to create a modern-day Ministry of Truth.”
Midterms a headache for the Democrats
DHS chief Alejandro Mayorkas during a congressional hearing on April 27, maintained that the DGB would fight alleged “interference and manipulation of the 2022 US midterm election”. The outlook for a Democratic victory looks bleak and many pundits say that the DGB was created to increase their electoral chances.
“We just established a disinformation panel at the Department of Homeland Security to more effectively combat this threat. Not only to ensure the security of the elections, but also to be able to continue to guarantee our internal security,” Mayorkas said.
According to Mayorkas, “white extremists” are the top terror threat to the US but during the congressional hearing last week, he was unable to cite even a single case he referred from DHS to the Department of Justice for “white supremacy or domestic terrorism”.