A Democratic representative mourned a huge change to a government agency responsible for massive censorship. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem put him in his place.
Rep. Ed Case (D-HI) went after Noem during a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, criticizing President Donald Trump’s proposed $491 million funding cut for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). In response, Noem told Case that the DHS would stop wasting money and funding censorship.
“We have focused on making sure that we're going forward with a Department of Homeland Security that focuses on what our mission is and that is to secure America's homeland and do that while being accountable to taxpayers,” Noem said.
She added, “So every single component I have—23 different departments—we’ve gone back to their mission statement and what they were intended to do and put them back on mission. So in CISA instead of doing censorship, misinformation [and] disinformation, they're back to securing our critical infrastructure.”
Previously, CISA enlisted local officials to find content they disapproved of, allowing CISA to push social media platforms to remove posts, tweets or other content.
During and after the 2020 election, the agency promoted this approach by creating the infamous Election Integrity Partnership, which pressured Big Tech platforms to censor content related to elections that they deemed unfavorable. Additionally, CISA participated in multiple efforts to promote censorship abroad. In total, CISA employees participated in six of the Biden administration’s 57 censorship initiatives.
Noem’s response to Case about CISA echoes Trump’s plans. Trump’s proposal promises to get rid of “weaponization and waste,” while calling out former President Joe Biden and his administration for past abuses.
This proposal was included in a letter to Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, from Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought. The text specifically states: “The Budget eliminates programs focused on so-called misinformation and propaganda as well as external engagement offices such as international affairs. These programs and offices were used as a hub in the Censorship Industrial Complex to violate the First Amendment, target Americans for protected speech, and target the President. CISA was more focused on censorship than on protecting the Nation’s critical systems, and put them at risk due to poor management and inefficiency, as well as a focus on self-promotion.”
Conservatives are under attack! Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
