The former head of the Disinformation Governance Board, Nina Jankowicz, appeared on CNN days after the board was put on pause to complain that it was undone by “disinformation”.
On Wednesday, the Washington Post announced that the Governance Board would be putting its operation on pause. The article put blame on the “right-wing internet apparatus” and its “coordinated online attacks”.
Jankowicz appeared on CNN Tonight with host Laura Coates to discuss the situation and her position.
“Unfortunately and ironically, we were undone exactly by a disinformation campaign coming from folks who apparently want to put our national security behind their own personal political ambitions,” she said.
“Why was that not anticipated here, in the sense that, did you not expect that there would be some measure or some inclination to try to use misinformation to sow distrust in the same thing you’re trying to do?” Coates asked.
Jankowicz answered that the board had too many things to focus on. “Well, you know, DHS is an extremely large department – 250,000 people work there – the department had other priorities,” she said. “It’s got a huge mission set”.
“And so at the time of the rollout, I think there were other priorities that were kind of put ahead of this rollout of the Disinformation Governance Board,” she added.
Jankowicz also blamed the issue on others involved for not listening to her advice. “Unfortunately, the advice that I had given was not heeded about how to communicate – how to communicate openly, transparently and rapidly”.
“Unfortunately, the advice that I had given was not heeded about how to communicate – how to communicate openly, transparently and rapidly,” she continued.
Jankowicz also mentioned receiving “threats every day for the past three weeks”.
“And frankly, the lies and falsehoods that were spread about the Disinformation Governance Board, as I said before, this childish behavior is putting the national security of our country behind this sort of partisan vitriol,” she concluded.
