A little history. This misuse of data is not just lies. Coming from the Department of Homeland Security, they undermine any notion that that Department would give valid information in a real crisis, leading to distrust of local,state and fed govt efforts.1/
After 9/11, federal gov. reformed dramatically including creating @DHSgov. Lots of errors in that process, but a guiding principal is that DHS would manage the complicated interagency and intergovernmental (local, state, tribal, territorial) in a crisis. HSPD-5 was born. 2/
Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 is (for those of us in the field) our mandate during a crisis. It provides an incident command framework to help guide planning across a complicated homeland enterprise (other agencies, state/local, private sector, international). 3/
On twitter, I can't get into the changes and flaws w/DHS (read my book!) nor the complicated legacy of the color code system, etc. But under HSPD-5, DHS communications takes the lead for the entire government in providing accurate, timely and consistent info. @SpoxDHS 4/
The theory of course is that politics would emanate from a White House or governor and mayors offices, but @dhs would ride under the radar to provide operational data and needs for all the various players in a response (during BP oil spill, the included over 60 fed agencies). 5/
The President may love what DHS spokesperson is doing attacking @cnn and its reporters for reporting the truth about the shutdown and its impact; the WH may love faking numbers about the threats at border (see: cnn.com/2019/01/05/pol…); this may be all fun and games to them. 7/
But this is a crisis of their own creation: a threat that they have so little confidence that America has the capacity to address that they are willing to shut down the government or invoke "emergency laws" for their game, and undermine our national security in the process. 8/
In the real world, I think about the real crisis coming: the terror attack, the hurricane, the oil spill, the earthquake. And I think about citizens, local governments, and communities in desperate need of a valid, authorized voice that they can depend on and act on. 9/
