Newsline

Newsline , Society

Biden’s Homeland Security Department Still Engaging in Censorship

Posted on Monday, April 17, 2023
|
by Outside Contributor
|
15 Comments
|
Print
Homeland Security

Though the Department of Homeland Security’s infamous Disinformation Governance Board was disbanded due to public pressure last year, it was immediately clear that the department’s already well-established so-called disinformation efforts would continue in less formal, but equally concerning ways.

Enter Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which has been increasingly involved in these efforts. For example, just a couple of weeks ago, Director Jen Easterly made some startling comments about her agency controlling the flow of information to the public:

One could argue that we’re in the business of protecting critical infrastructure, and the most critical infrastructure is our cognitive infrastructure … We now live in a world where people talk about alternative facts, post-truth, which I think is really, really dangerous if people get to pick their own facts.

“Protecting … cognitive infrastructure” is code for thought control. “Cognitive infrastructure” is not on the list of critical infrastructure sectors under the agency’s purview. The real danger is people in leadership at this agency and similar agencies wielding their power and telling us they are in the business of “protecting” Americans from our own opinions and discussions.

During a recent House Homeland Security Appropriations hearing where members of Congress were considering her agency’s budget request, Easterly made some surprising assertions that were completely at odds with what we’ve actually seen from her agency.

When questioned about the agency spending money on racial and sexual diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, she implied that the Republicans just misunderstood and that “diverse” meant diversity of thought.

When questioned about the agency’s involvement in curtailing what the Biden administration considers disinformation and misinformation—like falsely labeling the Hunter Biden laptop story as “foreign disinformation”—she firmly asserted that the agency is only involved in tackling foreign, not domestic, disinformation.

And when asked whether her agency has a habit of working with Twitter to flag or censor what it considers disinformation leading up to elections, Easterly absolutely denied it, saying, “We don’t flag anything to social media organizations at all … we don’t do any censorship.”

Yet previous testimony proves otherwise. Recent events point to a deliberate attempt to cover up the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s past and rebrand its mission.

Last week, conveniently prior to the hearing, the agency’s Cybersecurity Advisory Committee reorganized, and Easterly stated that they would no longer be operating the Misinformation, Disinformation and Malinformation advisory subcommittee, as the subcommittee had “successfully answered their taskings and provided recommendations” to the agency.

Additionally, Vijaya Gadde, who was acting in a leadership role on the subcommittee, will reportedly be shifted to another advisory role within the agency. Gadde was the former Twitter executive who made headlines for her involvement in the Hunter Biden laptop censoring scandal, was dubbed the company’s “chief censor,” and was fired after Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter. The fact that she now works at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency makes Easterly’s testimony of not censoring or working with social media companies highly questionable.

Ahead of the hearing, it was also reported that the agency had whitewashed its website and scrubbed all mentions of “domestic threat actors,” rewording certain mentions of “Misinformation, Disinformation, and Malinformation” to be less controversial. The site now refers only to foreign actors as opposed to foreign and domestic actors, just in time for Easterly to deny domestic censorship in her sworn testimony.

Just as what occurred relative to Homeland Security’s Disinformation Governance Board, it appears pushback and public scrutiny have caused the agency to reassess and abandon such brazen admissions of domestic censorship in exchange for more subtle tactics.

However, the abuse of government funds and operations for political gain is already ingrained in the agency and its partners.

For example, the Election Integrity Partnership, created in 2020 in consultation with Easterly’s agency to “work with government and civilian stakeholders to combat mis- and disinformation on social media about voting and elections,” has “received more than $12 million in federal grants since [Joe] Biden took office.” The partnership is still fully functioning.

In its own 2021 report, the Election Integrity Partnership stated in relation to elections:

Dozens of federal agencies support this effort, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) within the Department of Homeland Security, the United States Election Assistance Commission (EAC), the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Defense. However, none of these federal agencies has a focus on, or authority regarding, election misinformation originating from domestic sources within the United States. This limited federal role reveals a critical gap for non-governmental entities to fill. Increasingly pervasive mis- and disinformation, both foreign and domestic, creates an urgent need for collaboration across government, civil society, media, and social media platforms.

According to reports, the Election Integrity Partnership “prioritize[s] … swing states over non-swing states” in its reporting of “misinformation” to the American public and has been exposed for targeting conservative news sources.

To maintain political power, the Biden administration has a clear track record of “disinformation” efforts, no matter the agency, contractor, board, committee, or personnel in charge.

As it continuously rebrands and rewrites the history of its censorship activities, the Biden-run Department of Homeland Security has ingrained the policing of thought and information into our institutions.

Congress and the American people must stay vigilant and work to defund and disband this censorship regime at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, at the Election Integrity Partnership, and wherever it manifests next.  

We hope you've enjoyed this article. While you're here, we have a small favor to ask...

The AMAC Action Logo

Support AMAC Action. Our 501 (C)(4) advances initiatives on Capitol Hill, in the state legislatures, and at the local level to protect American values, free speech, the exercise of religion, equality of opportunity, sanctity of life, and the rule of law.

Donate Now
Share this article:
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
15 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
David Millikan
David Millikan
1 year ago

Excellent article on telling the truth.
The United States of America is a
REPUBLIC.
NOT a Democracy.
“DEMOCRACY IS NOTHING MORE THAN MOB RULE, WHERE 51% OF THE PEOPLE MAY TAKE AWAY THE
RIGHTS OF THE OTHER 49%.”
– THOMAS JEFFERSON

PaulE
PaulE
1 year ago

The left will continue to keep at surveillance and censoring of information the public gets to see, because it is simply in the nature of most authoritarian regimes to want to have total control over all information the public has access to. Information control is thought control and thought control ensures the left will remain unchallenged.

As fast as we shine the spotlight on one form of surveillance and censorship program by the left and get it dismantled, the left will simply turn around and create another one. The answer is not simply removing these programs as they pop-up, but removing the people from power that are constantly creating them in the first place. Short of doing that, this is just a big game of whack a mole.

Jeanette
Jeanette
1 year ago

Just have to give them an award for twisting word definitions..Its another distraction to control. “DEI” ….crap has been around the corner every 10 years to make

John
John
1 year ago

The government of the last 2 yrs. has thrown out so much disinformation all for the control of the populous that it boggles the mind. By the way, we are a Republic, not a democracy as these fools continue to say. It’s all about control and the loss of our freedoms plus an executive order that if you’re not watching will take your money it’s already happening but the mainstream media does not report a bit of it. Gold

Michael S.
Michael S.
1 year ago

When you smell smoke, somewhere there is a fire!!!! Of course with the current administration such a large amount of SMOKE pouring out it’s hard to figure where to use the extinguishers. Unfortunately we don’t have the capacity to use the vacuum of space to extinguish the blaze by lack of oxygen.

TMarie
TMarie
1 year ago

So, how exactly does a wife

TMarie
TMarie
1 year ago

What are you talking about?

We are US Constitutional loving Americans who want to love our Neighbors.

We don’t want to hurt anyone. We loved you even before you were born!

We just want fair Justice for one and all. Freedom without hurting anyone.

But, those who go through Due Process: and are innocent until proven guilty.

Once evidence is proven against a suspect, they should serve prison time if the crime was violent.

Crimes without violence: can be shown some mercy on first offense.

All accusations without evidence should be dismissed as Gossip or Slander.

False accusation should be punished to the degree of the damage of “defamation of Character”

Mike
Mike
1 year ago

Dr Shiva has the court evidence from his 2020 case. He proved that there was a backdoor on Twitter inwhich the government was censoring and shutting down twitter accounts. Even with Musk owning Twitter, the censorship continues. Checkout Dr Shiva, “Truth Freedom, Health”

Kevin
Kevin
1 year ago

In a word, Pravda.

iRAN
iRAN
1 year ago

The recent intel leak proves the Brandon Regime has been gaslighting us since before day one. If anyone in this regime told me my name, the first thing I would do is run, not walk, to look at my birth certificate. Believe nothing that comes out of any of these apparatchiks mouths. If they are talking, they are lying.

Frank Cowles
Frank Cowles
1 year ago

The Federal Government is out of control and run by Idiots!

Gabe Hanzeli
Gabe Hanzeli
1 year ago

just one of the many many democrat lies: the most transparent administration in history.

The famous iconic Make America Great Again MAGA Hat by Donald Trump.

Stay informed! Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter.

"*" indicates required fields

15
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x

Subscribe to AMAC Daily News and Games