Alejandro Mayorkas, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, is expected to tackle the issue of cybersecurity as he brings vast experience in that respected area. Mayorkas worked under the Obama administration as deputy DHS Secretary and during his tenure he contributed vastly in a deal with China that briefly reduced Chinese hacking targeting U.S. companies back in 2o15 as well as acting in increasing cybersecurity intelligence that government shared with industries.
With this pick to the DHS, the cybersecurity experts are hoping for Mayorkas to boost cooperation globally in the field of cybersecurity and to restore the good relationship between industry and government on cybersecurity that has been strained by the current administration. The experts also expect a key issue such as cybersecurity to be top of the list and not demoted to secondary like the Trump administration has shown, as it appears to be clear that this time around cybersecurity will surely be a top priority for Homeland Security.
There will be many issues that Mayorkas and Co will be facing once they are in the DHS Seat such as the 5g infrastructure transition, the cybersecurity of elections, and of course protecting the US against foreign cyberattacks as some of its issues it has to tackle, including the low employee morale around the DHS currently too. However, it still has to be remembered that he has another huge task in rolling back the immigration polices implemented by the Trump administration, but make no mistake cybersecurity efforts aren’t too far behind
Jordan,
There can be little doubt that Mayorkas will have his hands full. The immigration issue will be front and center on his agenda, since President-elect Biden has promised to put forth a new immigration bill within the first 100 days of his administration. And presumably this will include a path to citizenship for the “Dreamers.” And then, as you indicated, he will have to contend with the continuing cybersecurity challenges, as well as other threats to homeland security.
He also has a very interesting back story of his own. He is a Cuban-Jewish-American, whose family has twice escaped tyranny. He looks like a great choice! –Professor Wallerstein