Disinformation Portal Unveiled by NJ Office of Homeland Security & Preparedness

On Apr 8, 2022

The New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness has unveiled a new disinformation portal focused on assisting the public in identifying and vetting any truth-obscuring, manufactured information.

The disinformation portal will examine tactics, techniques and procedures that nation-state and non-state entities engage in, sometimes referred to as psychological operations. Our office hopes to address the onslaught of activity from these entities who have recently sought to and capitalized on spreading disinformation to sow discord within New Jersey and elsewhere.

Disinformation has the potential to incite panic, create distrust between the government and people, increase polarization, influence government actions or law enforcement responses, exhaust resources and cause undue harm.

“As it pertains to our mission, disinformation can have an insidious impact on the overall threat landscape,” said NJOHSP Director Laurie Doran. “In an age where the public has become increasingly dependent on online forums and social media platforms to stay informed, we all have a higher responsibility to scrutinize the information we’re consuming.”

In addition to a checklist for screening information, the page also provides intelligence reports that highlight circulating disinformation trends and tips on spotting deepfakes, synthetic media that employs artificial intelligence to generate realistic-looking video, images and audio.

“The reality is no one platform or agency has the manpower or means to track and dispel the amount of disinformation being circulated,” said NJOHSP Deputy Director Eric Tysarczyk. “With this portal, we’re now equipping the public with the tools needed to decipher the information for themselves.”

Members of the public who encounter information that contains a threat or a call to action, incites potential violence or appears to have a nexus to terrorism, should immediately report it to local law enforcement or NJOHSP’s Counterterrorism Watch by contacting 1-866-4-SAFE-NJ (1-866-472-3365) or [email protected].

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