The Biden-Harris transition team has explicitly called out cybersecurity as a priority in naming the first six individuals it plans to appoint or nominate for key cabinet positions.
In a formal announcement planned for Tuesday, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris intend to introduce Antony Blinken for secretary of State, Avril Haines for director of national intelligence, Jake Sullivan for national security advisor, Alejandro Mayorkas for secretary of Homeland Security, Linda Thomas-Greenfield for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and John Kerry as special presidential envoy for climate.
“These officials will start working immediately to rebuild our institutions, renew and reimagine American leadership to keep Americans safe at home and abroad, and address the defining challenges of our time—from infectious disease, to terrorism, nuclear proliferation, cyber threats, and climate change,” reads a release Monday from the Biden transition team.
Mayorkas, Haines, Sullivan and Blinken will serve in roles crucial to cybersecurity policy and have all worked in the Obama administration, which pioneered enduring cybersecurity approaches centered on the development of public-private and international partnerships.
Mayorkas, who would be the new leader of DHS, was deputy secretary of the department during the Obama-Biden Administration from 2013 to 2016 and the challenges he confronted then around information sharing with the private sector are still front and center now. He’s also tackled cybercrime and securities fraud as a U.S. attorney.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., praised Biden’s selection of Mayorkas, noting his experience in cybersecurity.
“At a very nascent stage, the industry, individuals, companies ask of us, ‘What is really in it for us? What is the benefit for us to share information?’” Mayorkas said in a biden highlights cybersecurity focus first cabinet picks
