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“One could argue we’re in the business of critical infrastructure, and the
most critical infrastructure is our cognitive infrastructure, so building that
resilience to misinformation and disinformation, I think, is incredibly important.”
– CISA Director Jen Easterly, November 10, 2021.
The Committee on the Judiciary and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of
the Federal Government have been conducting an investigation into government-induced
censorship on social media. Although the investigation is ongoing, information obtained to date
has revealed that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)—an upstart
agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—has facilitated the censorship of
Americans directly and through third-party intermediaries.
Founded in 2018, CISA was originally intended to be an ancillary agency designed to
protect “critical infrastructure” and guard against cybersecurity threats.3 In the years since its
creation, however, CISA metastasized into the nerve center of the federal government’s domestic
surveillance and censorship operations on social media
This interim staff report details, among other things, that:
• CISA is “working with federal partners to mature a whole-of-government approach” to
curbing alleged misinformation and disinformation.8
• CISA considered the creation of an anti-misinformation “rapid response team” capable of
physically deploying across the United States.9
• CISA moved its censorship operation to a CISA-funded non-profit after CISA and the
Biden Administration were sued in federal court, implicitly admitting that its censorship
activities are unconstitutional.10
• CISA wanted to use the same CISA-funded non-profit as its mouthpiece to “avoid the
appearance of government propaganda.”11
• Members of CISA’s advisory committee agonized that it was “only a matter of time
before someone realizes we exist and starts asking about our work
The Committee and Select Subcommittee have obtained previously undisclosed, nonpublic documents that reveal CISA expanded its mission to surveil Americans’ speech on social media, colluded with Big Tech and government-funded third parties to censor by proxy, and tried to hide its plainly unconstitutional activities from the public.
In January 2021,afterPresident Biden took office, “CISA transitioned its [CFITF] to
promote more flexibility to focus on general MDM,” or so-called “Mis-, Dis-, and
Malinformation.”60 In so doing, CISA admitted that its focus was no longer exclusively on
“countering foreign influence,” but was also targeting MDM originating from domestic sources.
In 2019, CISA’s Chief Counsel claimed: “We are not law enforcement and we’re not the
intelligence community.”162 In theory, the statement is accurate. CISA is not a law enforcement
agency and is not authorized to act as an intelligence agency. But, in practice, that is how CISA
has behaved, arrogating to itself the authority to conduct surveillance of Americans on social
media. CISA expanded its unconstitutional practice by developing an elaborate social media
censorship apparatus spanning multiple organizations, in order to facilitate the censorship of
Americans’ political speech both directly and by proxy. There is no constitutionally viable legal
authority that allows CISA to engage in this or any other kind of censorship. Thus,not only does
CISA’s conduct violate the First Amendment, it also disregards the basic principle of the
separation of powers, which prohibits agencies from acting outside of their congressionally
delegated sphere.163
As Suzanne Spaulding, the former CIA legal advisor and MDM Subcommittee member,
presaged, it was “only a matter of time before someone realizes we exist and starts asking
about”164 CISA’s repeated violations of the First Amendment. CISA’s attempts to cover up its
surveillance and censorship operations will not rectify the damage inflicted on the American
people by government-induced censorship. Neither CISA’s scrubbing of its website, nor the
Biden Administration’s stalling of records requests can conceal the true nature of CISA’s work
in “combating MDM.”
CISA must be reined in, as must the Biden Administration’s “whole-of-government”
approach to social media censorship. Every American has the right to express his or her opinion
online, and to receive information from others. Government classifications of opinions as
“misinformation” or “disinformation” do not nullify the First Amendment’s guarantees. A free
and democratic society is impossible under a government that acts as the ultimate arbiter of truth
in political discourse. To better inform legislative efforts to end government censorship on the
Internet and protect Americans’ rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, the Committee and
Select Subcommittee will continue to investigate the extent of CISA’s and other Executive
Branch agencies’ interactions with social media platforms.
• CISA considered the creation of an anti-misinformation “rapid response team” capable of
physically deploying across the United States.
originally posted by: IndieA
a reply to: datguy
• CISA considered the creation of an anti-misinformation “rapid response team” capable of
physically deploying across the United States.
Well that is certainly interesting.
I wonder if such a thing was ever implemented, or is in place for 2024.
What would their purpose be?
Providing a physical response to MDM, law enforcement, collecting and covering up evidence, covert ops, harassment?
originally posted by: FishsticksAndKetchup
Privacy is such an obsolete concept at this point.