Untitled episode

thank you Mr tanar and I recognize Mr elel for his 5 minutes of questioning thank you Mr chairman and thank you for being here today uh recently documents were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Americans for Prosperity regarding DHS disinformation governance board which was stood up by the Biden Administration and was almost immediately shut down due to massive public push back behind me today

are the two of these documents well besides the title there isn't much that we can learn from these documents Mr kahma uh help me fill in some of the words on this blank page what authorities does DHS believe it has to counter misinformation disinformation and Mal information thank you representative for the question DHS believes it's authorities that authorize its specific Mission use cases per provides us

the authority to provide correct accurate information in response to false information that may directly impact the operations of the department also behind me as well as a completely redacted memo titled Ukraine MDM Playbook do you think DHS has the authority to control public conversations on Foreign Wars if so where do you believe this is under their mission thank you for the question Congressman could you please

repeat the question do you think DHS has the authority to control public conversations on Foreign Wars no DHS does not have that Authority we do not uh monitor the content of American speech very and suppressing domestic speech included in Memo's is suppressing domestic speech included in the memo strategy s is suppressing domestic speech included in the Memo's strategy I'm not familiar with the memo that you're

referencing Homeland Security advisory committee recommended to DHS that it should quote bring disinformation to the attention of platforms hosting these falsehoods end quote I ask that DHS shares the committee their Communications with these platforms on this topic is that something you can provide uh respect Congressman I would have to defer to our office of legislative affairs who I believe is already in contact with the committee

staff about document production and anything else that can be shared but we'd be happy to thank you very much Miss Harrington does sisa have any plans to combat MDM during the 20124 election representative respectfully sisa will continue doing the work that it's currently doing um which is essentially amplifying election official voices we have a rumor control page up on s.gov and we also are putting out

literacy Publications so the American people can spot disinformation tactics and learn about the tactics that foreign adversaries are using to um essentially spread disinformation thank you recently the director of cisa testified before Congress that quote the most critical infrastructure in our cogn cognitive infrastructure building that resilience to misinformation and disinformation I think is incredibly important I want to repeat that again the director of CA testified

before Congress and I quote the most critical infrastructure is our cognitive infrastructure building that resilience to misinformation and disinformation I think is incredibly important end quote I look at cis's website and cognitive infrastructure is not listed as a sector of sisa is tasked with protecting what does cognitive infrastructure mean representative in executing our mission we are Guided by the definition of critical infrastructure and presidential policy

directive 21 that is the US government determines critical infrastructure by that PPD 21 and there are 16 critical infrastructure sectors that are considered vital to the United States includes their assets systems and networks whether physical or virtual that are so important that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on Security National Economic Security National Public Health or safety or any combination thereof again what

does cognitive infrastructure mean I I I don't I didn't I don't get it representative respectfully that is how we execute our mission with the definition of critical infrastructure defined in PPD 21 do you think that DHS has this Authority our authorities are outlined in PPD 21 have you discussed the uh cognitive infrastructure with director easterly representative again critical infrastructure is defined in PPD 21 it's got

the 16 sectors of which are the sectors which make up critical infrastructure of the United States I'm concerned that we continue to find examples that that seem clear that the Biden Administration is weaponizing the federal government against its citizens these agencies are out of control and the this committee will not stop until we are hold folks accountable for that and for Mr chairman I you back

gentlemen