The Democrats can see they’re losing big time. Now they’re trying to shut conservatives up.
And Joe Biden unveiled a new censorship scheme just in time for the election.
The Biden administration is mulling over the idea of appointing a new “information czar” for national security to tackle foreign disinformation campaigns targeting elections and other sensitive issues, according to White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
In a conversation on Thursday about the potential role on the National Security Council, Sullivan revealed that the concept has been actively debated across intelligence and defense agencies.
Speaking at the National Defense University, Sullivan offered a rare look into the administration’s internal discussions on managing foreign speech that the government deems harmful.
“I think on the ’czar’ [proposal], that’s something we’ve been grappling with and thinking about across the national security enterprise,” Sullivan said.
“And under [National Security Memorandum-2], most decision-making does get kind of brought into the NSC process, but this may be an area where actually a lead agency model is a more effective way of setting up for long-term success that insulates this from the … politics on both sides.”
In 2022, the Department of Homeland Security under President Biden created a controversial “Disinformation Governance Board,” which was quickly dismantled due to strong public backlash over First Amendment concerns.
Nina Jankowicz, who had been chosen to head the disinformation board, later registered as a foreign agent for a British nonprofit focused on countering disinformation.
Yet, the Biden administration’s intention to appoint a single official or agency to focus on disinformation has remained steady.
Sullivan noted that the administration is keen to counter foreign influence efforts, though it grapples with the challenge of not being able to dictate information flow.
“We are a democracy and it’s not a situation where a small group of unelected people sitting in a foreign capital are saying, ‘This is what we’re going to go drive, just go do it and lie and cheat and hide and so forth,’” Sullivan said.
“We can’t do that. So we have to have something that’s kind of consistent with the political system that we’re dealing with.”
The administration’s disinformation goals extend beyond election issues, Sullivan added, encompassing the broader task of “how we decide messages we communicate [and] how we decide what messages we combat.”
Addressing national security officials tasked with implementing the president’s new National Security Memorandum on artificial intelligence, Sullivan highlighted AI’s role in foreign influence campaigns aiming to manipulate U.S. political discussions and sow distrust in government.
With the administration’s time winding down, it’s uncertain if Sullivan and his colleagues will move to establish an information czar or office before the next president takes office.
Sullivan remarked that the U.S. has made strides in countering foreign disinformation campaigns over the past eight years, though he believes more work remains.
Regardless of whether the new czar materializes, Sullivan stressed the need for public awareness on foreign-influenced speech.
“A big part of success here is not just stopping every tweet or video, … it’s raising resilience by raising awareness, having people understand when they’re looking at something or consuming something, ‘Hey, this very well have a foreign actor provenance to it,’” Sullivan said.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
