Pennsylvania’s governor, Josh Shapiro (D) announced a partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to combat “misinformation” leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
Shapiro said in a February 29 press release, “Pennsylvania is the birthplace of American democracy, and we are working to continue defending Pennsylvanians’ fundamental freedoms and ensure we have a free, fair, safe, secure election this November. As Attorney General, I brought law enforcement leaders at every level together to ensure our elections remained free from fraud, interference, and intimidation here in Pennsylvania – and I made a commitment to continuing that work as Governor.”
“We take our responsibility as stewards of our democracy seriously and the Election Threats Task Force will ensure all levels of government are working together to combat misinformation, safeguard the rights of every citizen, and ensure this election is safe, secure, free, and fair.”
The Pennsylvania Election Threats Task Force is “comprised of federal, state, and local security, law enforcement, and election administration partners who are working together to share information and coordinate plans to mitigate threats to the election process, protect voters from intimidation, and provide voters with accurate, trusted election information,” according to the press release.
According to Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt, the task force targets those who have spread “lies and baseless conspiracy theories, and attempting to delegitimize our safe, secure, and accurate elections.”
Although the press release does not indicate how the task force will collaborate with DHS, nor does it mention CISA, both agencies were confirmed to be involved in the matter in a separate statement to The Federalist.
Press Matt Heckel of the State Department’s communications office told the outlet, “The Department of State will continue to work closely with the United States Department of Homeland Security and its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency,” adding, “The formation of the Election Threats Task Force will allow us to open lines of communication and share intelligence among the included government agencies.”
It remains unclear what “intelligence” comprises concerning the task force.
CISA has been involved in censorship efforts throughout previous elections.
American Faith reported that documents obtained by America First Legal (AFL) revealed that CISA censored social media posts that questioned election integrity and mail-in voting.
AFL alleged that CISA “knew mail-in and absentee voting are less secure than in-person (i.e., verified voting) voting, confirming warnings by former President Trump and others of increased fraud, and shared these concerns with mainstream media outlets during an unclassified ‘media tour’ the Friday before the 2020 election.”
“However, the mainstream media, having derided the notion that ‘vote by mail’ was less secure than in-person voting, covered up the truth,” AFL wrote.
CISA also used the consulting firm Deloitte to censor posts that questioned mail-in ballots’ integrity.
Deloitte shared with CISA that “POTUS accused the ‘fake news’ of a ‘corrupt media conspiracy’ to use COVID-19 pandemic coverage to influence the election, claiming ‘the topic will totally change’ after Election Day.”
Similarly, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released an interim staff report on June 26, 2023, alleging collusion between CISA and tech giants to suppress free speech on social media platforms.
The report states that 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.”
The document adds that neither “misinformation” nor “disinformation” labels can deprive speech of its First Amendment protection.
It claims that CISA, founded in 2018 as an agency to protect “critical infrastructure” and guard against cybersecurity threats, transformed into “the nerve center of the federal government’s domestic surveillance and censorship operations on social media.” By 2020, CISA reportedly began monitoring social media posts, identifying those that allegedly spread “disinformation.”
By 2021, the agency had a formal “Mis-, Dis-, and Malinformation” (MDM) team, the report notes.
