Sep
18
Homeland Security’s Latest Orwellian Activity
Remember that business a few months ago with Biden’s new (now-disbanded) Disinformation Governance Board (within the Dept. of Homeland Security) and its controversial executive director, Nina Jankowicz? Well, this is sort of like that, only different.
As reported by The Heritage Foundation’s Erin Dwinell, Homeland’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has been meddling where it ain’t supposed to. Officially tasked with defending against current threats and collaborating “to build a more secure and resilient infrastructure for the future,” it has instead been focusing on censoring information on private social media platforms, at universities, etc. How?
It started at the close of the Obama-Biden administration, when “elections” was added to the list of critical infrastructure. (More of a social than physical infrastructure, for sure, but definitely critical.) Dwinell points to a study by the Foundation for Freedom Online showing recent (re)definitions of terms including “cybersecurity” and “disinformation” in such a way that DHS has now included “cyber defense against digital disinformation” (e.g. “digital censorship to stop the digital disinformation”) within its cybersecurity efforts. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the idea of a very partisan Big Brother deciding for me what is true and therefore allowed to be consumed.
As Dwinell points out,
“Disinformation campaigns within the Department of Homeland Security have been hiding for years behind others names, outsourcing of watchdog-type social media missions to contractors and associated organizations, and a lack of an official, singular entity charged with supervising the all-encompassing efforts to strike down information or opinions that challenge the status quo.
Rather, the department has acted as a “coordinator” of sorts. Historically, government agencies have mostly managed to do this successfully and remain uncriticized as others do their dirty work.”
These efforts have gone pretty much “unchecked”, and “under this administration, its efforts have increased exponentially.” But, the above-mentioned DGB debacle shone some light on it and brought much-needed public attention.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has plenty to do within their official purview. It has no business getting involved in the information side of things, let alone controlling what the American public is allowed to see and hear. This is a clear case of Orwellian government overreach.
“The Department of Homeland Security and its component agencies continue to turn their resources toward straw man ‘domestic threats.’ Congress should defund those political efforts until the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency returns to — and proves — its commitment to serve the American people as intended….
[T]he Biden administration must stop using the DHS to advance its leftist agenda through controlled content while our nuclear, cyber, water, energy, and other sectors become more vulnerable to hacking and attacks. Instead, it must restore the department’s original purpose — safeguarding the homeland.”
Absolutely correct.
