Current:Home > MarketsGOP-led House panel accuses cybersecurity agency of violating citizens' civil liberties -GlobalInvest
GOP-led House panel accuses cybersecurity agency of violating citizens' civil liberties
View
Date:2025-04-15 17:48:22
The federal government agency charged with protecting critical infrastructure and guarding against cybersecurity threats is accused of "exceeding its statutory authority" in its post-2016-election efforts to monitor domestic social media for evidence of misinformation, disinformation and malinformation, according to a House Republican-led committee's interim report.
The House Judiciary Committee and Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government issued a report accusing the Critical Infrastructure and Cybersecurity Agency, or CISA, of facilitating the "censorship of Americans directly and through third-party intermediaries." The committee's investigation cites internal Department of Homeland Security emails and meeting notes.
The core claims of the 41-page report focus on changes at the agency since the 2016 election. A January 2017 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence found Russian efforts to influence the election "demonstrated a significant escalation in directness, level of activity, and scope of effort compared to previous operations." The report did not assess "the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election."
The House Judiciary Committee's report, peppered with politically charged language, alleges that CISA expanded the monitoring of foreign "disinformation" to "all disinformation including Americans' speech."
House Republicans say concern about CISA's expanded mandate and overwhelmingly negative backlash from DHS' Disinformation Governance Board prompted the department to begin "scrubbing CISA's website of references to domestic 'misinformation' and 'disinformation.'"
Some election officials expressed concern about the agency's involvement with domestic speech related to elections, the committee said, citing the CISA documents. According to the report, on August 2, 2022, an official with the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) warned "that it is important for CISA to remain within their operational and mission limits. CISA specifically should stick with misinformation and disinformation as related to cybersecurity issues."
The report also alleges that even within DHS, some were worried about how its expanded activities would ultimately be viewed.
The report alleges a May 2022 email from Suzanne Spaulding, a former senior intelligence official who worked on the project, to a colleague about the increased public attention on the matter. According to the report, Spaulding wrote, "It's only a matter of time before someone starts asking about our work... I'm not sure this keeps until our public meeting in June."
Dr. Kate Starbird, identified in the report as the co-founder of the University of Washington's Center for an Informed Public, responded to Spaulding, writing, "Yes. I agree. We have a couple of pretty obvious vulnerabilities."
The GOP-led committee and subcommittee take issue with attempts by the government to workshop ways to curb the domestic spread of misinformation and disinformation – led by the "Protecting Critical Infrastructure from Misinformation & Disinformation" Subcommittee. That committee, a voluntary group that served in an advisory role for CISA, was ultimately disbanded, according to the report, but not before issuing two sets of formal recommendations in June and September 2022.
In response to the "political environment and legal risks," congressional investigators write that Starbird also noted in a May 2022 email that the MDM Committee "removed 'monitoring' from just about every place where it appeared" in their recommendations.
In a statement to CBS News, Starbird wrote that the committee's report "grossly misrepresented" her work and that of the advisory board.
"This report disregards clarifying information within the broader record of our subcommittee's communications and final recommendations — as well as my voluntary testimony to this Committee — to push a misleading narrative of censorship," said Starbird. "Our subcommittee played no role in censoring any speech, nor did we advocate for the social media platforms to take any action to limit the spread of speech."
CISA Executive Director Brandon Wales said in a statement, "CISA does not and has never censored speech or facilitated censorship; any such claims are patently false."
"Every day, the men and women of CISA execute the agency's mission of reducing risk to U.S. critical infrastructure in a way that protects Americans' freedom of speech, civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy," Wales continued. "In response to concerns from election officials of all parties regarding foreign influence operations and disinformation that may impact the security of election infrastructure, CISA mitigates the risk of disinformation by sharing information on election literacy and election security with the public and by amplifying the trusted voices of election officials across the nation."
The committee's report argues, "Labeling speech 'misinformation' does not strip it of First Amendment protection. That is so even if the speech is untrue, as "[s]ome false statements are inevitable if there is to be an open and vigorous expression of views in public and private conversation."
Catherine HerridgeCatherine Herridge is a senior investigative correspondent for CBS News covering national security and intelligence based in Washington, D.C.
TwitterveryGood! (39)
Related
- Tarte Shape Tape Concealer Sells Once Every 4 Seconds: Get 50% Off Before It's Gone
- Jason and Travis Kelce Address Kansas City Super Bowl Parade Shooting
- First federal gender-based hate crime trial starts in South Carolina over trans woman’s killing
- Former Marine and crypto lawyer John Deaton to challenge Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren
- Finally, good retirement news! Southwest pilots' plan is a bright spot, experts say
- Want to retire with a million bucks in the bank? Here's one tip on how to do it.
- NBA MVP rankings: With Joel Embiid out of running there are multiple deserving candidates
- Kentucky GOP lawmaker pitches his early childhood education plan as way to head off childcare crisis
- Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
- Iowa's Caitlin Clark sets sights on Pete Maravich with next game vs. Indiana
Ranking
- Selena Gomez's "Weird Uncles" Steve Martin and Martin Short React to Her Engagement
- Maine wants to lead in offshore wind. The state’s governor says she has location for a key wind port
- Daytona 500 highlights: All the top moments from William Byron's win in NASCAR opener
- Lionel Messi fan creates 'What The Messi' sneakers, and meets MLS star: 'He's a good soul'
- Head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, allowing Trump to pick his successor
- Japan's flagship H3 rocket successfully reaches orbit after failed debut launch
- Vermont governor seeks disaster declaration for December flooding
- New Hampshire considers greatly expanding scope of settlement fund for youth center abuse victims
Recommendation
How to watch the 'Blue Bloods' Season 14 finale: Final episode premiere date, cast
Man hurt in crash of stolen car steals ambulance after leaving Virginia hospital in gown, police say
Texas authorities find body of Audrii Cunningham, 11, who had been missing since last week
Man who allegedly told migrants in packed boat he'd get them to U.K. or kill you all convicted of manslaughter
The Best Stocking Stuffers Under $25
OpenAI, Chat GPT creator, unveils Sora to turn writing prompts into videos: What to know
She’s not quitting. Takeaways from Nikki Haley’s push to stay in the GOP contest against Trump
Ex-Nebraska basketball player sues university after sex scandal