Former DHS disinformation office chief joins nonprofit, calls out GOP lawmakers

Nina Jankowicz, the former Department of Homeland Security disinformation chief, has joined a nonprofit to combat disinformation ahead of the 2024 election and as artificial intelligence (AI) is on the rise.

Jankowicz joined the American Sunlight Project and sent a letter to congressional leaders who have “done little to improve the health of our information environment” in the years since Russia interfered with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

“Since April 2022, extremists have been running a campaign to undermine critical disinformation research ahead of the 2024 election and beyond,” the group said, calling it the “greatest threat to freedom of expression” since the McCarthy Era.

The letter, addressed to GOP Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio), James Comer (Ky.) and Dan Bishop (N.C.), claimed their House committees are using government resources to attack researchers who are examining the intersections of national security, technology and information.

“Even as America faces unprecedented threats in the information space, both from our adversaries’ increasing capabilities and from the exponential growth of emerging technologies, your committees are wasting valuable time and taxpayer dollars targeting American citizens who are trying to strengthen our democracy,” the letter said.

In an interview with The New York Times, Jankowicz said researchers have been “swept up” by lawsuits and efforts to block them from their work, causing them to focus attention on those distractions instead of “rising to meet the moment.”

“And the problem with that, obviously, is that if we don’t push back on these campaigns, then that’s the prevailing narrative,” she said.

The creation of the group comes at a time when civil advocacy groups are urging leading technology and social media companies to combat misinformation and AI-fueled misinformation ahead of elections across the globe.

In the group’s letter, Jankowicz and her co-founder, Carlos Álvarez-Aranyos, said the United States is about to hit an “inflection point.” Since the 2024 primaries began, a number of “concerning developments” in the information space have occurred, particularly using AI tech like deepfakes.

“Disinformation knows no political party. Its ultimate victim is democracy,” they wrote. “This threat is growing more acute each day, and you have become the primary obstacle to addressing it.”