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Homeland Security has created a “disinformation” board designed to help Americans – and minority voters in particular – sort through false election allegations.
Secretary Alejandro Majorkas announced his board to Congress this week, saying it was one of his department’s efforts to combat fake news.
“The aim is to pool the ministry’s resources to address this threat,” Mr. Majorcas told lawmakers.
He did not enter the specific duties of the board, except to specifically say that it would deal with state election officials and minority communities targeted for misinformation. He said he had recently read a study on “the spread of myths and disinformation, particularly in minority communities.”
The Washington Times reached out to Homeland Security regarding the duties assigned to the board itself.
Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio called it the “talk police.”
Lora Ries, a former National Security vice president and director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Border Security and Immigration, described the board as a “clearly political maneuver” to try to chase dissent from the political debate ahead of the 2022 election.
“The Left can no longer use COVID restrictions or apparently Twitter to mislabel and hide legitimate information that American voters should have when they cast their votes. Instead, they are raising this board to proclaim what the left believes to be false or misinformation,” said Ms. Ries.
He also said that police disinformation “is not the mission of the Remote Department of Homeland Security.”
The new disinformation board is led by Robert Silvers, assistant secretary for policy, and Jennifer Daskal, assistant general counsel at Homeland Security.
Mr. Majorcas unveiled his board in response to a question from Illinois Democrat Lauren Underwood, who said Black and Spanish-speaking voters have become special targets of Russian disinformation.
Ms Underwood said she wanted Homeland Security to help these communities organize the information they feed on. Mr. Majorcas said the board would do that.
The disinformation board isn’t the first time Mr. Majorkas has entered policing information. He told Congress last year that he was working with the Department of Education on a program to help young schoolchildren recognize when they are given dangerous information.
It is unclear what this effort is.
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