House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has accused Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly of dodging questions from Congress regarding the agency’s role in censoring “election-related” speech. In a letter obtained by The Federalist, Jordan claims Easterly has evaded answering these questions four times.
Under Easterly’s leadership, CISA is alleged to be collaborating with Democratic-led states to censor speech deemed “misinformation” as the 2024 presidential election approaches. The newly formed “Election Threats Task Force” in Pennsylvania is cited as an example of CISA’s involvement in local election integrity efforts.
Jordan’s letter outlines that Easterly was invited to testify in July 2024 but cited a scheduling conflict at the last minute. When additional dates were offered for her to appear, she reportedly claimed unavailability for all proposed times and did not suggest alternative dates.
The letter demands that Easterly appear for a transcribed interview “without any further undue delay.” Additionally, it reminds her of a congressional subpoena requiring CISA to produce communications discussing content moderation efforts. Jordan previously highlighted that CISA’s responses to this subpoena have been inadequate, with only limited documentation provided over five months.
The ongoing inquiry into CISA’s practices follows revelations that the agency has partnered with Pennsylvania officials to “mitigate threats” to the electoral process and provide “accurate” election information. CISA has faced criticism for its approach to content moderation, historically labeling speech that raises valid concerns about the electoral process as “disinformation.”
During the 2020 election, CISA flagged social media posts regarding unsupervised mail-in voting as misinformation, despite internally acknowledging the risks associated with such voting methods. This pattern raises significant concerns about government overreach and the suppression of lawful speech in the electoral context.
