DHS Secretary Speeches Feed

Secretary Mayorkas Delivers Remarks at the U.S. Conference of Mayors

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 20:54:00 -0500

On January 20, 2022, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas delivered remarks at the U.S. Conference of Mayors. His remarks are below:

Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here with the Conference of Mayors.

You know, several weeks ago, following a devastating tornado, I visited the city of Mayfield, Kentucky: a very proud city that was once also a city of schools, churches, stores, places where community members could assemble. And when I visited it several weeks ago following the tornado, the community members were there, but really nothing else was. The schools, the churches, the places of assembly, the stores were gone. Just literally blown away and blown down.

And the question arose: What was it that kept the people together? What was it that allowed them to remember the pride they felt in the city that, but a day ago, was standing and vibrant? And to draw upon that pride. And it really wasn't a “what.” It was a “who.” It was the mayor of Mayfield, Kathy O’Nan, and her ability to comfort her constituents, her community members, her ability to reassure them, and her ability to work to ensure that the things they needed—the supplies and the services they needed—were delivered to them.

The mayor — all of you, mayors — are some of the most powerful people in this entire country. You have under your charge the well-being of our communities. And your power is increased when you partner with others. And we in the Department of Homeland Security want to be a very valuable partner of yours. Many mayors around the country and many people whom you represent and lead don't really know what the Department of Homeland Security is. Most likely uppermost in their minds right now is immigration, but they may not realize that the United States Coast Guard, the United States Secret Service, FEMA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, TSA and other agencies and offices within our purview are actually part of the Department of Homeland Security. I certainly don't have enough time to speak about the breadth of the work that we perform and all for which we are responsible. But I do want to focus a few remarks on four areas where we are deeply involved and want to be deeply involved with you. We want to be your partner.

And when I first started in this job, I communicated that we are a department of partnership. I want to thank Mayor Suarez for his kind introduction. He is the mayor of a city that was my first home when my family arrived here in the United States from Cuba.

On this day, this first year anniversary of the Biden-Harris administration, the four areas that I want to focus on — that we have been working so hard to partner with leaders across the country — are cybersecurity, domestic violent extremism, immigration, and natural disasters.

And let me start with cybersecurity. There may be some of you who feel that your city is immune from a cybersecurity attack, that you're really off the radar screen and perhaps too small to be victimized. There may be others of you who lead very large cities with very sophisticated cybersecurity architectures that might find a great deal of comfort in the architectures that you have built and consider yourselves immune from attack because of them. And I would respectfully submit that you would both be wrong.

You know, over the past several months, we've seen a hospital in a small town in the United States be the victim of a ransomware attack and its patients in the intensive care unit having to be moved on an emergency basis to another hospital in a neighboring city because its systems and processes were shut down. We certainly have seen the large city victimized by very sophisticated actors, and sometimes it doesn't take a great deal of sophistication to successfully launch a cybersecurity attack. It could be one of your city employees actually just clicking on a link that they think they recognize but is not exactly what it should be and, all of a sudden, the bad actor is inside.

What can we do about it? I would say regardless of the size and sophistication of your infrastructure, you really need to identify a person who could take charge of the cybersecurity portfolio because it is something that we all need to be vigilant about. And then there's the blocking and the tackling that actually can make a real difference. It is in fact instructing your personnel, and not only your personnel but your community members, to change their passwords from time to time, to make their password strong, to back-up their systems, some of these very easy things. Because, in the cybersecurity world, in a world where we are all connected, it only takes one computer and we say that we're only as strong as our weakest link.

And then what can we as a Department of Homeland Security do for you? This is the first year that we will have $1 billion dollars in grant funds to distribute around the country to different cities — small, medium and large — over a four-year period and, this year, it is our plan to distribute $200 million of those funds to cities. And so we have a great deal of funding to equip and empower you to deal with this threat environment that is only growing.

And I would ask you to really look on our website at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency – or CISA as it is known, because everything in the federal government has an acronym – and we will make those grant funds available to you and we can also dispatch our expert personnel to you, wherever you are in the United States, to really help you build the architecture that addresses whatever funding limitations you have and whatever potential we can help you realize. The threat landscape is only becoming that much more challenging.

Let me then turn to what I have described as the greatest terrorism related threat that we face on our homeland today. And that is the threat of domestic violent extremism. And just to make sure that I define it accurately for you: we are not speaking of individuals who espouse ideologies of hate, or who propel false narratives forward. We in this country, of course, one of our fundamental principles is a principle of freedom of speech guaranteed by our United States Constitution. But where we become involved and where the threat materializes is when those ideologies of hate, those false narratives, are linked to acts of terrorism.

Everyone here is assuredly aware of the slogan If You See Something, Say Something. And that I think, when that is articulated, we think of the airport, we think of the transit station, we think of the backpack that is left by a bus stop, perhaps by someone who wishes to do us harm. And we're very concerned about the contents of the backpack.

But the world of domestic violent extremism is different. We're not talking about the backpack as much. We're talking about the individual. And the issue is not the identification of the backpack but the ability to identify when an individual, who might overtly be articulating ideologies of concern or false narratives, when we begin to see them display a tendency to be driving towards violence. When we see them descending in perhaps mental health, in an adverse mental health condition. When they begin to exhibit anti-social behavior.

You know, there was a, there was a case but a couple months ago, when tragically an individual who heroically served in our armed forces, who was suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, was beginning to exhibit signs of antisocial behavior and descending into more severe and severe, more severe drug abuse. And people around him and close to him who loved him noticed it. But they didn't know necessarily what to do about it.

And this veteran whom, to whom we owe so much, went into a home, allegedly, and shot and killed four individuals. But what can we do? What can we place in the hands of his loved ones, his friends, his pastor, his neighbor, to be able to detect when, in fact, he began to exhibit signs of trouble? Who would they be able to call and what would we be able to do?

And here too, we in the Department of Homeland Security can help you. We can dispatch our experts to teach you about the indicia of violent extremism and one, when one is beginning to descend into those paths. We have grant funds, -- last year a minimum of $77 million but we have more this year -- to equip and empower you to build programs and to be able to deliver the social services capabilities that you might have. Our goal is to prevent the threat from materializing, not responding with the tools of accountability in the enforcement arena that we can bring to bear. Of course, we will do so if we're unable to prevent that threat from materializing, but it is our goal to be preventive before we have to be responsive. We have so much that we can offer you in that area as well.

In the world of immigration, I couldn't help but notice that Mayor Suarez mentioned the situation at the Southern border as one of our initial responsibilities here in the Department of Homeland Security and, of course, that is of primary focus, but I want to speak about something more. Something different. On September 30 of this past year, September 30, 2021, I issued new immigration enforcement guidelines. And in those guidelines, I articulated what I felt was a very important principle: that we will not dedicate our limited enforcement resources to apprehend individuals who have been here in this country for many years, who have been contributing members of our communities.

Unlawful presence in the United States will alone not be a basis for an immigration enforcement action but rather, we will allocate our efforts, we will allocate our resources on those individuals who present a current public safety threat, a threat to national security, or a threat to our border security, and that is a very important principle.

And it is not just a matter of the appropriate allocation of limited resources but it is a matter of justice and fairness and equity as well. And so, I have an ask of you. Some of your cities, by reason of past history, have declined to cooperate with immigration authorities in the removal, the apprehension and removal of individuals, even if those individuals pose a public safety threat. And I do not mean to suggest that distrust, if that is one of the concerns underlying policies such as that, I don't mean to do assert that that distrust is not earned. But what I want to communicate to you is that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, the agency of today and what it is focused upon, and what it is doing, is not the agency of the past. We are not engaged in indiscriminate enforcement, but we are focused on making our communities safe and allowing those who have been contributors to it and productive members of it, to allow them to continue in their contributions and their productivity.

And so, I will be coming to you and asking you to reconsider your position of non-cooperation and see how we can work together. And I may not succeed initially in a wholesale reversal of your position, but I am willing to work in increments with you because the public’s safety, the public's well-being, for which we are all charged, is I think at issue.

Lastly, let me speak of natural disasters, and the reality that climate change has changed the landscape so significantly. You know, when I was a Deputy Secretary in the Obama-Biden Administration, we spoke of seasons. It was hurricane season. It was fire season. We don't speak about seasons anymore across the country as we look at natural disasters, whether they be tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, devastating fire in the beautiful state of Colorado but a short while ago.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, which is part of our Department of Homeland Security, again, can do so much. You know, when I visited Mayfield and other parts of Kentucky -- I visited twice, the second time with our President -- we saw parts of buildings that were actually built to relatively modern codes that were intended to be safe zones within a building should a natural disaster strike, and they were destroyed by a remarkably powerful tornado. And so one of the things that, of course, we are doing in partnership with state, local, tribal, territorial communities is looking at building codes and whether, in fact, they are evolving to meet the threats of today rather than the threats of yesterday.

And so let us join you in that analysis. Let us help you map out evacuation routes in case a natural disaster hits. We want to help plan: to prevent devastation to your populations from occurring, to be ready for the disasters should they strike, to be able to respond effectively, and to be resilient against them. We want to build with you, together with you in partnership, stronger and more prosperous communities. We want to prevent the threats from materializing. If they materialize, we want to be able to respond effectively. And when we respond effectively, we want to prove our resilience. That is what we want to do.

And we also want, with you, to champion our identity as a country. We want to champion our identity as a nation of immigrants: realize and harness and advance their contributions. That is who I think we are. And I, as an immigrant to this country, say that with tremendous pride and gratitude, not only to my parents, of course, but to the country that gave us this home and me the opportunity to join government service.

And let me end on Operation Allies Welcome. In late August, in late August of 2021 we began the parole of Afghan nationals, many of whom stood side by side with us in the theater of war across the world. Today, we have resettled over 70,000 of them. And when I say we, I use that advisedly in the most inclusive sense. It's very difficult now, as we look at the national landscape, to really take stock of the incredible divisiveness that we are suffering in our society. And it is breathtaking in a world of increasing divide to see a force of unity and Operation Allies Welcome presented that because it crossed party lines. It bridged the divide. Cities and leaders of different policy backgrounds and different political beliefs came together and demonstrated what America always has been and what it always hopefully will be and certainly what it can be: the greatest place of refuge in the world, a haven for those in need of relief, and especially for those who have given so much to us.

And so, for that and for so much more, I thank you and I very much look forward to partnering with you. Thank you so much.

Keywords: Cybersecurity, Disaster Relief, Domestic Violent Extremism (DVE), Immigration, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
Topics: Secretary of Homeland Security

International Organization for Migration Remarks

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 12:28:01 -0500

We in the United States are in a challenging period of response, restoration, and rebuilding.

We are responding to a historically high number of migrants reaching our southern land border, not from any single, discrete point of origin, but from varied nations suffering a diverse collection of hardships.

We are restoring the humanity of our efforts to address the needs and rights of migrants, including the reunification of families purposefully and cruelly separated to deter other families from seeking refuge in our country.

We are rebuilding refugee and asylum programs dismantled by the prior administration.

We are doing all of this at an especially challenging time, one in which we – all of us – struggle to vanquish the pandemic that has cost so many lives and upended so many aspects of the daily life we once considered customary.

Our efforts in the United States would have gravely less chance of success and cause for hope were it not for the extraordinary, unwavering, and unrelenting commitment, capacity, and work of the International Organization for Migration. We are thankful to Director General Vitorino and his team for their partnership in seeking to achieve our goals of providing humanitarian relief to those seeking refuge and respecting the dignity of each individual at every step of their journey.

Thank you for inviting me to join this 112th Council session today.

The COVID-19 pandemic has so powerfully evidenced the reality that irregular migration, however regionalized it might appear to be, is a global phenomenon that cannot be met by silos of effort. It requires all of us to work together, to devise solutions that respect each nation’s sovereignty and that also recognize matters of common interest and concern. IOM is one of the organizations that links us all together.

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, we in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security made and followed a series of policy and programmatic changes in our response to the movement of people from different nations. We imposed travel restrictions, increasingly designed to focus on a traveler-specific risk assessment. We have used technology to develop and support physically distanced immigration processing. We have collaborated with state and local health authorities and community-based organizations to implement testing, vaccination, and isolation regimes.

In each of these areas, our innovations have achieved important successes. Yet we also have discovered areas of much-needed improvement. More fundamentally, the situation has revealed how critical it is to have a pre-established architecture that intertwines the policies and processes of public health emergencies and of the mobility and migration of people.

Necessity has borne rapid innovation. We need to maintain the practices and continue to leverage and enhance the technology utilized in the time of the pandemic that create greater efficiency and effectiveness in our migration system.

This speaks to, for example, the importance of flexibility in the government’s ability to continue immigration processing; the need to maintain open labor migration pathways and prevent the blockage of supply chains because of border closures or the shortage of workers; and the vitality of community health partnerships to provide a holistic response.

We must formalize the relationship between our immigration and our public health authorities. We can better integrate our public health screening in our travel and migration processes. We can and should build on IOM’s progress by ensuring that all states can implement the standards and lessons learned over the past two years.

There is the opportunity now to consider what we all have experienced and what core principles can be developed to guide Member actions. The absence of commonly understood parameters for assessing risk, managing essential exemptions, and instituting protocols for travel have led to asymmetries of travel and uncertainty and costs for governments, travelers, migrants, and the private sector.

Let us consider IOM’s role in the daily monitoring of mobility restrictions and their impact around the world, tracking rules at thousands of points of entry. We could have an invaluable resource for many partners within the United Nations system, for government and private sector actors trying to assess the overall landscape.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing global challenges have fundamentally changed how our nations interact, how our people move, and how our economies function. We are at a critically important time when we must examine and apply the lessons learned from the past two years and cooperate, through this forum, to develop new paradigms that will better equip us for generations to come.

Through our work together, and under the auspices of IOM, we can more ably empower ourselves to achieve our humanitarian objectives. Thank you very much.

Keywords: International Partnership, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
Topics: Border Security, Citizenship and Immigration Services, Secretary of Homeland Security, Resilience

Secretary Mayorkas Delivers Remarks at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit

Tue, 19 Oct 2021 13:50:44 -0400

On October 19, 2021, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas delivered a keynote address at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit. His remarks are below.

My maternal grandfather, Michael Gabor, was, fortunately, a strong presence in our home throughout my formative years. He lost his parents and eight brothers in the Holocaust. His sister made it to Israel. He was able to flee with his wife and my mother to safety in Havana, Cuba.

In my home, an act spurred by anti-Semitism anywhere in the world brought fear; if it happened somewhere, it could happen anywhere.

My friends had sleepovers, went to sleep-away camps, and enjoyed such away-from-home traditions. I did not. My mother’s fear – having seen children leave home and not return – compelled her to parent differently.

The everlasting memory of the Holocaust, one of the most vicious crimes against humanity ever perpetrated, heightened our awareness and increased our vigilance against any act of hate, what it meant, and where it could lead.

We understood, early on, that a hate crime is different than most other crimes. The circle of victims knows no circumference. Yes, of course, there are those who endure the tragedy more acutely than others; those who have lost loved ones. Yet, the hate crime impacts us all, everywhere. It is spurred not by what one has done or not done, by what one has or does not have. It is spurred by who one is.

In August 1999, I was serving as the United States Attorney in Los Angeles, California when Buford O. Furrow, Jr. went into a Jewish Community Center and shot at fifty children. Three were wounded, as was a camp counselor and a JCC staff member. Miraculously, no lives were lost there.

But, about an hour later, a postal employee was not so fortunate; Furrow shot and killed him while he was on his mail route. Furrow, pledging white supremacy, killed the postal employee because he was Filipino.

The image of children from the Jewish Community Center holding hands as they were guided across the street to safety gripped the world. The funeral for the postal employee was attended by people from near and far.

The endless horror of that hate-fueled act of violence in Granada Hills remains with us today. Just as the limitless tragedy in Pittsburgh still shakes us to this moment. As does the limitless tragedy in the surrounding area of Atlanta, Georgia.

But these tragedies, and sadly the rise in hate crimes everywhere, also drive us to greater action.

This summit is a tribute to that commitment: to translate immeasurable grief into unwavering steps to root out, respond to, and combat hate wherever it persists.

We in the Department of Homeland Security share that commitment and focus.

The actions we take are founded on the pillar of partnership. Partnership with communities and groups everywhere to prevent tragedies from occurring, responding ably when they do, building resilience, and safeguarding our rights and liberties.

Recognizing what violence borne of hate truly is, President Biden issued the first-ever National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism. We are executing the strategy swiftly:

We have established a dedicated domestic terrorism branch within our Office of Intelligence and Analysis. The team has enhanced our ability to analyze, produce, and disseminate intelligence, to the broadest audience possible, that specifically addresses domestic violent extremism.

For the first time, we designated domestic violent extremism a “national priority area” in FEMA grant programs, resulting in a minimum of 77 million dollars being spent on capabilities to detect and protect against this threat in our communities.

This past year, we awarded 180 million dollars to nonprofit organizations at high risk of a terrorist attack, through the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. Many of the organizations are houses of worship. The goal is to equip them with security-related capabilities and ensure their members can practice their faith in safety and in peace.

We have brought educators, social service professionals, non-governmental organizations, and community leaders to the table. We work closely with Secure Community Network and other great experts to develop the best programs that most effectively strengthen our neighborhoods, places of worship, and institutions. We are training school safety personnel on how to assess and respond to threats.

We established the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships, or CP3, to empower and equip communities to build their capacity to identify behaviors and stop violence from occurring in the first instance. We need to reach family members, friends, classmates, co-workers, clergy, teachers, and others. Those who live in the community can best do so; we will support and provide for you.

There is a rise in hate in our country and around the world. There is a rise in crimes borne of hate. But there is also an increasing drive to action. By our Department, across the federal government, by all of you, by so many across our nation and the world – in partnership with one another.

The actions we take to eradicate hate have important complements: the attribute of resolve and the pride of identity. Resolve to continue Torah study in Squirrel Hill. Resolve to continue the fight against hate for as long as hate exists. Pride in who we are and in what we believe.

We in the Department of Homeland Security are resolved, and we are proud to partner with you. This is how we honor the victims of hate, defeat the forces of fear, and forge a more tolerant, just, fair, and peaceful, tomorrow.

Keywords: Domestic Violent Extremism (DVE), Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
Topics: Preventing Terrorism, Secretary of Homeland Security

Secretary Mayorkas Delivers Remarks at the 12th Annual Billington CyberSecurity Summit

Wed, 06 Oct 2021 12:44:14 -0400

On October 6, 2021, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas delivered a keynote address at the 12th Annual Billington CyberSecurity Summit. His remarks are below:

Thank you very much for the introduction and for the invitation to speak at the Billington Cybersecurity Summit. Thank you all for joining us today.

As you know, cybersecurity poses one of the greatest challenges facing our Nation. The last year and a half has powerfully demonstrated what’s at stake.

Last March, schools and students, stores and consumers, companies and employees, houses of worship and congregants had to shift their operations online in almost an instant.

The internet became essential, allowing us stay in touch with loved ones, enabling remote work, and ensuring continued innovation across industries.

At the same time, ransomware attacks disrupted already-strained hospitals, schools, food suppliers, and pipelines in addition to many other organizations that provide critical services. These attacks revealed that what is at stake is not simply the way we communicate or the way we work, but the way we live.

A couple of weeks ago, at the BlackHat conference, I talked about how cybersecurity is now a central piece of our geopolitics, shaping our future online and offline and generating repercussions that impact our economy, our security, our democracy, and the exercise of fundamental rights for decades to come.

That’s why cybersecurity has been a top priority for the Biden-Harris Administration from the start. Together with partners from across every level of government and the private sector, we are working to defend a digital future that is free and secure.

Over the course of my eight months in office, DHS has taken a series of bold actions to lead the charge on this front. I’ll describe a few of them today.

First, we are strengthening the Department’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA as it is commonly known, as the nation’s cybersecurity quarterback. Jen Easterly, who is the new Director of CISA, has had a distinguished career in government and the U.S. military, as well as in the private sector. She exemplifies the impressive talent we have brought to DHS to advance many of our key cybersecurity priorities and tackle related challenges. You will hear more from Jen and about CISA tomorrow.

Second, we are breaking out of cyber silos to strengthen national cybersecurity resilience.

We are doing this by elevating and integrating cybersecurity across agencies, sectors, and within DHS, leveraging CISA’s expertise and experience wherever possible.

At DHS, this work also includes TSA, the Coast Guard, FEMA, the Secret Service, and ICE.

To move from vision to action, DHS has undertaken a series of 60-day sprints. The idea is straightforward: let’s turbocharge our leadership on cybersecurity by issuing a series of challenges to ourselves – and commit to hard deadlines for results.

We launched the first sprint in March, focused on elevating the fight against ransomware at home and around the world. We now have an entire whole-of-government effort dedicated to this challenge and we developed StopRansomware.gov, which is the first website that pools federal resources to help individuals and organizations of all sizes mitigate their risk against this threat.

The second sprint focused on ensuring DHS can recruit, retain, and develop a diverse, top-tier cybersecurity workforce. This resulted in the largest and most successful cybersecurity hiring effort in our Department’s history and paved the way for the near-term launch of the DHS Cybersecurity Service on November 15^th, which will increase access to public service careers in cybersecurity.

The third sprint centered on increasing the cybersecurity of our Industrial Control Systems, including pipelines and the electricity sector, a necessity driven home by the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack. Along every step of the way, the Department has been working hand-in-glove with the White House, other federal partners, and the private sector to increase adoption of CISA’s guidance and services to protect critical infrastructure.

The fourth sprint focuses on the cybersecurity of the transportation sector. It launched in September and is ongoing so I will briefly highlight our activities in greater detail.

Whether by air, land, or sea, our transportation systems are of utmost strategic importance to our national and economic security.

The maritime transportation system is comprised of hundreds of ports and shipyards, 25,000 miles of waterways, and 20,000 bridges, pipelines, and undersea cables. Roughly a quarter of America’s GDP flows through it – that amounts to approximately $5.4 trillion annually.

This network is the connective tissue between consumers, manufacturers, farmers, and domestic and international markets – and the Coast Guard is responsible for protecting it against cyber threats.

Over the summer, the Coast Guard released a new Cyber Strategic Outlook, its first update since 2015, and it is now integrating cyber risk management into vessel and facility safety, and security planning and operations.

The Coast Guard is also deploying cybersecurity specialists to major U.S. ports to oversee assessments, evaluate plans, and lead preparedness and response activities.

Starting this month, more than 2,300 maritime entities must submit a dedicated cyber plan to the Coast Guard; address any cybersecurity vulnerabilities identified in their Facility Security Assessments; and outline the owner or operator’s cybersecurity mitigation measures.

These facilities and vessels are required to report cyber incidents. The Coast Guard and CISA work closely together to respond to cyber incident reports, assess and mitigate risks to critical infrastructure, and provide oversight and technical support to industry.

At the same time, with most global trade transported on foreign ships, the Coast Guard is working with the International Maritime Organization and member countries to ensure that global cargo and passenger vessels conduct cyber risk assessments and develop mitigation plans under their existing safety management system.

These rules came into effect earlier this year, and they are now being implemented onboard ships calling at every American port.

As we combat cyber threats on our seas, we are also focusing on what is happening by land and air.

TSA’s broad responsibilities cover security at our airports, highways and traffic management systems, pipelines, mass transit terminals and hubs, and subways and metros that carry billions of passengers every year.

Our freight rail system is essential not only to our economic well-being, but also to the ability of our military to move equipment from “Fort to Port” when needed.

In the aftermath of the Colonial attack, TSA issued two new security directives designed to strengthen the security of our nation’s pipelines, requiring pipeline owners and operators to designate a cybersecurity coordinator, report cyber incidents to CISA within 12 hours, implement a number of basic hygiene measures, develop contingency plans in the event of a cyber attack, and subject their systems to robust vulnerability testing.

Applying lessons learned from that experience, TSA is now laying the foundation for a more secure and resilient aviation and surface transportation sector.

To strengthen the cybersecurity of our railroads and rail transit, TSA will issue a new security directive this year that will cover higher-risk railroad and rail transit entities and require them to identify a cybersecurity point person; report incidents to CISA; and put together a contingency and recovery plan in case they become a victim of malicious cyber activity. We are coordinating and consulting with industry as we develop all of these plans.

For lower-risk surface entities, TSA will issue separate guidance that encourages, rather than requires, these entities to take the same measures. Reducing cybersecurity risk is in every organization’s self-interest, especially considering the indiscriminate nature of ransomware.

Beyond the most urgent and important measures required by the security directive, TSA is initiating a rulemaking process to develop a longer-term regime to strengthen cybersecurity and resilience in the transportation sector.

To maximize industry input and inform this rulemaking process, TSA will issue an information circular recommending the completion of a cybersecurity self-assessment.

Mirroring these steps, TSA has begun updating its aviation security program. By the close of this sprint, TSA will require critical U.S. airport operators, passenger aircraft operators, and all-cargo aircraft operators to designate a cybersecurity coordinator and report cyber incidents to CISA. TSA will expand the covered entities gradually to other relevant entities and consider additional measures over time.

Taken together, these elements – a dedicated point of contact, cyber incident reporting, and contingency planning – represent the bare minimum of today’s cybersecurity best practices.

We are also advancing initiatives like CISA’s CyberSentry program, a voluntary partnership between government and business that helps us spot sophisticated threats early, understand how far they reach, share critical guidance, and collaborate with network defenders on responding swiftly and effectively.

Further, cybersecurity will be a top priority in the next cycle of FEMA’s transportation-related grant programs to ensure we are driving funding toward key efforts. A new working group with CISA, FEMA, TSA, and the Coast Guard is driving this forward. In my first month in office, we already increased the required minimum spent on cybersecurity through FEMA grant awards to 7.5%, a significant increase across the country.

Throughout this process, we will continue working closely with the private sector to identify additional opportunities to work together and increase our collective cybersecurity baseline.

In many respects, our transportation sprint – and our Department-wide efforts – are a microcosm of our Administration’s whole-of-government approach to cybersecurity. And I have only just scratched the surface of what we are doing, as a Department and as an Administration, to meet this moment. Every day, we dive deeper into new and innovative ways to up our cyber game.

Before I finish, let me reiterate one more point: we can’t do this alone. As I have said before, the Department of Homeland Security is fundamentally a department of partnerships. Our ability to execute our critical mission relies on the strength of our partnerships. We need your expertise, perspective, and strategic guidance. We need your partnership.

Please consider partnering with us, collaborating with us, or joining our team for a meaningful and challenging and fulfilling career in public service. We want your voice at the table and we encourage differing views. That’s a hallmark of good government.

Tackling the cybersecurity challenges facing our Nation, our democracy, and our future requires our collective time, energy, expertise, and resources. We are keen to team up with you. Thank you so very much.

Keywords: Critical Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
Topics: Critical Infrastructure Security, Cybersecurity, Secretary of Homeland Security, Transportation Security

Secretary Mayorkas Delivers Remarks in Del Rio, TX

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 17:09:42 -0400

On September 20, 2021, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas, CBP Acting Commissioner Troy A. Miller, and U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz delivered remarks to address the situation in Del Rio, Texas. They also discussed the dangers of irregular migration.

Transcript of Secretary Mayorkas’s remarks:

I am on the ground in Del Rio where I have received an operational briefing and witnessed first-hand the steps being taken to address the recent increase in migrant encounters.

I first want to thank the United States Border Patrol, led by Chief Raul Ortiz, a native of Del Rio, for responding to this challenging and heart-breaking situation. I am grateful for the Chief’s extraordinary leadership.

I also want to welcome, of course, Commissioner Troy Miller, who's been leading the U.S. Customs and Border Protection since January 20 and has been doing an extraordinary job.

We are in the midst of a pandemic and a critical migration challenge. We continue to exercise the Centers for Disease Control's Title 42 authority.  Title 42 is not an immigration authority but a public health authority to protect the American public, to protect the communities along the border, and to protect the migrants themselves.

I want to share with you some of the steps we are taking to address the current situation here in Del Rio.  CBP has surged 600 agents, officers, and DHS volunteer force personnel to the Del Rio sector to enhance our operational capabilities. If additional staff is needed, more will be sent.

Border Patrol is coordinating with ICE and the U.S. Coast Guard to move individuals from Del Rio to other processing locations—including approximately 3,500 over the last few days and 3,000 today—in order to ensure that migrants are swiftly taken into custody, processed, and removed from the United States consistent with our laws and policies.

We in DHS are securing additional transportation to accelerate the pace and increase the capacity of removal flights to Haiti and other destinations in the Western Hemisphere.  We are working to increase the capacity of return flights to Haiti and other destinations.  We anticipate at least one to three flights per day. The Biden Administration is working with source and transit countries in the region to accept individuals who previously resided in those countries.

We are undertaking urgent humanitarian actions with other relevant federal, state, and local partners to reduce crowding and improve conditions for migrants on United States soil.  DHS has already taken a number of steps to ensure the safety and security of individuals as they await processing, including having Border Patrol emergency medical technicians on-hand, and providing water, towels, and portable toilets. This is all part of an all-of-government and whole-of-community effort.  We have brought in personnel from the Department of Health and Human Services to address medical needs and supplies. We've also worked with the American Red Cross to bring in supplies and much needed resources to the population.  We have worked with the World Central Kitchen to bring in meals for the migrants.  Not only do we leverage the resources and capabilities of the Department of Homeland Security, we look across the Federal government and in partnership with civil society, local resources, to see what we can do to bring more capabilities to bear to meet the challenge, and that is indeed what we are doing here.

Finally, the White House has directed appropriate U.S. agencies to work with the Haitian and other regional governments to provide assistance and support to returnees.  The majority of migrants continue to be expelled under CDC’s Title 42 authority. Those who cannot be expelled under that authority and do not have a legal basis to remain will be placed in expedited removal proceedings.  DHS is conducting regular expulsion and removal flights to Haiti, Mexico, Ecuador, and Northern Triangle countries.

We are very concerned that Haitians who are taking this irregular migration path are receiving false information that the border is open, or that Temporary Protected Status is available.  I want to make sure that it is known that this is not the way to come to the United States.  That is false information.  Irregular migration poses a serious security risk to the migrants themselves.  Trying to enter the United States illegally is not worth the tragedy, the money, or the effort. As we have said consistently since we published the Federal Register Notice officially designating Haiti for Temporary Protected Status—or TPS—only Haitians living in the United States before July 29 are eligible for Temporary Protected Status.

We have reiterated that our borders are not open, and people should not make the dangerous journey.  Individuals and families are subject to border restrictions, including expulsion.  Irregular migration poses a significant threat to the health and welfare of border communities, and to the lives of the migrants themselves, and should not be attempted.  If you come to the United States illegally, you will be returned.  Your journey will not succeed, and you will be endangering your life and your family's lives.  This Administration is committed to developing safe, orderly, and humane pathways for migration, but this is not the way to do it.  Thank you.

It is my pleasure to introduce Commissioner Troy Miller of the United States Customs and Border Protection.

Transcript of CBP Acting Commissioner Miller’s remarks:

Good afternoon. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Thank you for joining us here today and, importantly, thank you for what you've done over the last several days to elevate the work that we're doing since this group of migrants began arriving in Del Rio. Your leadership has ensured that DHS could count on a whole-of-government approach. That is not just a buzzword, it means that the federal government is engaged and mobilizing the necessary resources to process the migrants arriving here at Del Rio quickly, humanely, and maintain the safety of everyone involved.

And I can't say thank you enough to the state, local, and NGO partners that are also here with us. Once again, everybody's come together to assist in addressing the needs of the local communities, while also addressing the challenging situations we face together. I thank you for everyone's hard work. I also want to thank my colleague, Border Patrol Chief Ortiz. Chief took the helm a few short weeks ago and just in time to lead this important effort in his hometown. The Chief will give additional operational details in just a minute

And I want to thank the CBP workforce who continue to rally to every situation and challenge we face. I am proud to work alongside the dedicated and resilient men and women of CBP every single day who have served this country with relentless determination and integrity.

Finally, I want to stress something important. CBPs message for anyone thinking of entering the United States illegally along the southern border is clear and simple: Our borders are not open. Entering the country illegally is a dangerous undertaking. Don't put your life or put your family safety in the hands of smugglers or other criminals who will tell you that our borders are open. Don't do it.

With that, I want to turn it over to US Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz.

Transcript of U.S. Border Patrol Chief Ortiz:

Good morning and thank you, Acting Commissioner Miller and Secretary Mayorkas, for the support you provided, so we can get these resources moved in here as quickly as we have.

The coordination within CBP, throughout DHS, and across the federal government is key to our response. This really has been a whole-of-government approach as I've never seen before and that means it has included our state, local, and NGO partners, and certainly the communities that have come together and worked long hours to address this situation here in Del Rio Texas, and I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart.

I also want to talk a little bit about, you know, what we have mobilized. As the Commissioner and the Secretary mentioned, 600 agents—that includes customs officers and border patrol agents, mobile field force trained individuals and DHS volunteer force personnel to the Del Rio sector—to improve control of the situation underneath this bridge.

We prioritized surging medical support personnel and have expanded the scope and scale of medical support on the ground. This includes a CBP MTs, DHS volunteer force members, as well as personnel from across the federal government to include the HHS Disaster Medical Assistance Team who arrived this morning and are continuing to provide services to the migrants. This also includes the San Antonio Fire Department. They sent personnel to assist us, and we want to thank all of these partners for the assistance as we provide integrated, on-site medical services, and try to reduce the strain on the local community.

Together our teams have been able to handle most medical concerns while continuing to stay in touch with local health systems on issues that may require additional medical care at a facility here in Del Rio. The Del Rio Port of Entry remains closed. Traffic is being re-routed from Del Rio to Eagle Pass to more effectively manage resources and ensure uninterrupted flow of trade and travel.

As I said yesterday, U.S. Border Patrol is coordinating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Coast Guard to move individuals from Del Rio to other processing locations within Texas, including 2,500 on Sunday. DHS is also working to accelerate and increase the frequency and capacity of Title 42 flights to expel individuals to Haiti and other countries of origin. We're achieving our goals. We're getting there and getting to a point where we can manage a population here. We are already seeing it quickly diminish, and we'll continue to see that over the coming days.

I talked yesterday about how so much of this migration is driven through social media and word of mouth, and smugglers are significant drivers of the misinformation that gets people to undertake these dangerous journeys. Smugglers continue to recklessly endanger lives of individuals they exploit for their own financial gain. Many of these migrants cross through remote, harsh terrain and unpredictable weather to get this far. Many likely didn't make it.

The smugglers leverage misinformation to mislead people. Some of that information is focused on the TPS. Let's be clear: Only those individuals living in the United States prior to July 29 are eligible for temporary protected status. or TPS. No one who arrived here this past week will be eligible to get TPS. So here's the facts. We are still enforcing the CDC Title 42 order, and those attempting irregular migration here will not be allowed to enter the United States. They will be removed and sent back to their country of origin as mandated under current laws. I also want to stress that, for those being removed to Haiti, our partners at the State Department are working to ensure that there is adequate support when they arrive in Haiti. But the message is clear: Do not attempt the journey.

All of you coming here from the media, you're crucial to getting this message out: that the smugglers are unscrupulous, and the misinformation is wrong. Our borders are not open and people should not make the journey.

Thank you for being here.

Keywords: Border Security, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Temporary Protected Status, U. S. Border Patrol
Topics: Border Security, Secretary of Homeland Security

Secretary Mayorkas Delivers Remarks at the National Press Club

Thu, 09 Sep 2021 22:16:57 -0400

On September 9, 2021, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas delivered remarks at the National Press Club.

View Original

Transcript:

Thank you so much, Lisa, and thank you all for giving me the opportunity to share some remarks. I want to start on a note of solemnity and resilience, and end on a note of generosity and hope, and in between speak of the challenges that we are facing and how we are addressing them, and what it says about who we are and who we want to be. And I want to make brief remarks so we leave as much time as possible for a conversation.

Yesterday at the Department of Homeland Security's headquarters in St. Elizabeths we had a special ceremony. Shortly after 9/11, in the aftermath of that tragic day, amidst the rubble, a tree was found that was struggling, but still alive. And it was a Callery pear tree and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation took custody of the tree and rehabilitated it over the ensuing weeks and months and years, and it was termed the "survivor tree." And when it produced a seed, a seed would be distributed to a community or a town that had unfortunately also suffered tremendous tragedy and loss.

Sadly, there are many of them, and the seeds have been distributed to them, whether it be Orlando, Newtown, Boston, Las Vegas, and many others. The seeds of that survivor tree have also been distributed to places of tribute and honor and memory. And we in the Department of Homeland Security, we're extraordinarily privileged to receive a seed planted yesterday. And it speaks to the resilience of our country. And to that, to the fact that that resilience is born of the work and dedication of people across the country, including those in the Department of Homeland Security.

At this time in our country, two days from 9/11, we think, of course, of the lives that were lost on 9/11 2001 as a result of the tragedy, and we really doubled down on our commitment to ensure that this country, our American way of life, our principles are everlasting and we dedicate ourselves to that.

The Department of Homeland Security is facing extraordinary challenges now that grip our country and that are really uppermost in our nation's mind. We have extreme weather events that are unprecedented in frequency and scale and speak of the disastrous consequences of climate change. We are observing a 300% increase over last year in the number and severity of ransomware attacks and it speaks of cybersecurity as a critical and urgent priority of ours. We are addressing, of course, the annual phenomenon of irregular migration, and the significant challenge at our Southern Border. And we are addressing a rise in domestic violent extremism, the most significant terrorism-related threat that we face in our homeland.

This in addition to the day-to-day work that we dedicate ourselves to, this in addition to the 2,285 community vaccination centers that FEMA—an agency within the Department of Homeland Security—stood up in our united battle against the pandemic, and, of course, this in addition now to the designation that the President made of the Department of Homeland Security as the lead federal agency in Operation Allies Welcome, the effort to resettle Afghan nationals here in the United States.

I am asked often how we do it all. Do we have the resources to manage through the challenges that our nation faces in the service of the mission, to which we are dedicated to keep the American public safe and secure? And the answer is a very straightforward one. We do because of the people that comprise the Department of Homeland Security. We do because of the extraordinary talent, dedication, and efforts of the men and women of our department.

Let me speak a little bit about each of the challenges that I have identified and how we are addressing them and what it says fundamentally about who we are and who we want to be. And let me start with the challenge of domestic violent extremism.

When the Department was first formed, the focus from a terrorism-related perspective was on the foreign terrorist fighter, the individual who was a resident abroad who sought to penetrate our defenses and do us harm here on the homeland. And we've built, of course, a system and processes to address that threat. Over the years that threat evolved and it became the homegrown violent extremists that was our most prominent threat on the homeland, with respect to the terrorist threat writ large. It was the individual already resident in the United States, who was radicalized by a foreign terrorist organization's ideology, and sought to do us harm here on the homeland.

Now what we have seen over the past few years is that threat, once again, evolve. And now the threat is the domestic terrorist, the domestic violent extremists. The individual who is radicalized to violence by reason of an ideology of hate or false narratives that are propagated on social media or other online platforms. And one thing is very important to remember as we have observed the terrorism-related threat evolve throughout the years, and that is that its prior iteration has not disappeared from our threat landscape. The fact that one threat becomes more prominent—the threat evolves and a particular brand of that threat becomes most prominent—does not mean that its prior iteration has disappeared. We remain focused on the foreign terrorist, we remain focused on the homegrown violent extremists, but we also must adapt our systems and processes, as we do to the new threat that has emerged or has increased in prominence.

And so when people speak of the situation in Afghanistan and ask questions about what that means for the threat landscape, and do we have to build new processes and systems, should the threat of al Qaeda rise in prominence. Once again, the answer is no, because we have never dismantled or weakened the systems that we built then, we have only added to them so that we are as dynamic as the threat landscape we confront and that we are dedicated to address in the safety and security of our homeland.

One thing that we are doing now that might be different than what has been done in the past is the manner in which we are addressing the domestic violent extremists, the domestic terrorist threat. When that thread was the threat of homegrown violent extremism, we developed a program called Countering Violent Extremism. And we went into the communities to assist those communities in countering the threat. But what we learned is that we had challenges in overcoming issues of trust and really building a partnership as vibrant and strong as what was needed. And so as we tackle the threat of domestic terrorism, our model is a bit different. What we are doing—and this is because fundamentally the Department is an organization of partnerships—what we are doing is focusing on equipping and empowering the local communities to identify the threat before it materializes and prevent it from ever occurring or ever being realized. And if, sadly, the threat does materialize, to be resilient in withstanding it.

And so, how has that manifested itself? Let me give two brief examples. Number one, for the first time ever, our FEMA grant programs to local jurisdictions have included the requirement that a certain percentage of those funds that had community receives—7.5 percent—be dedicated to the fight against domestic violent extremism. Number one. And number two, we have created the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnership to really build on that concept of partnership to disseminate information to state, local, tribal, and territorial officials so that they are equipped with real-time actionable information to address the threat as it emerges. And so we're focused on empowering and equipping, we're focused on partnership.

The issue of extreme weather events. We of course have suffered hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, fires in this country before but the frequency of these events is greater than ever. And we are seeing their severity only increase. What is different about how we are tackling that, let me give one primary example, and it speaks of a value that we hold dear and it is the value of equity. The fourth estate, very correctly and necessarily communicated to us concern with respect to the manner in which individual assistance was provided to people, to members of communities, who had suffered from extreme weather events, and who by reason of past disenfranchisement, could not access the relief that we are equipped and empowered to provide.

For example, in minority communities, homes have been passed down for generations without the traditional paperwork that perhaps some of us might enjoy, a deed of trust, for example, documentary proof of ownership. And despite their ownership, in fact, they had difficulty accessing individual assistance because of that absence of documentation and paperwork. That is a bridge in the service of equity that we must cross. We must close that divide and indeed, by reason of this issue raising prominence, because of journalistic integrity, we have closed that divide. And we have crossed that bridge, and we have reformed our policies and practices so that no one is left disenfranchised from the individual assistance that we, as a matter of law are empowered to provide.

Cybersecurity and, specifically, ransomware, to which I alluded at the outset, and the extraordinary increase in its frequency and severity. But a month ago, a small group of hospitals were hit with ransomware that disabled their information systems and they were unable to provide critical care to patients and those patients had to be moved. The scourge of ransomware is extraordinarily significant, quite acute, and is something that we are treating with tremendous urgency. As a matter of fact, before the Colonial Pipeline attack that galvanized the American public's attention, we began a 60-day sprint of focus on ransomware to raise awareness of it, to communicate practices that anyone can employ to guard against it, and we have launched StopRansomware.gov, a very innovative and novel one-stop shop for information for the American public to best defend against it.

This again, I think, is reflective of a core principle of partnership and an all-of-community effort to address one of the significant challenges we face on the homeland. And why is an all-of-community effort necessary with respect to ransomware and the cybersecurity threat writ large? Because in cybersecurity we say that we are only as strong as our weakest link and because of our interconnectedness, it is the responsibility of each and every person to enhance their cybersecurity so that our whole ecosystem is more secure.

Lastly, on the issue of the challenge of immigration and irregular immigration, specifically, of course. We have experienced surges many times before in our nation's history. And in fact in the 21st century, 2005, 2009, 2014, 2019, and so on. We have experienced over the last four years prior to this administration a very different approach to irregular migration that defined the approach of the administration that preceded it. And we are very focused in the Department of Homeland Security to restoring the values of this nation and how we handle irregular migration and the individuals who seek refuge in the United States.

And I want to give two examples of it, and it speaks to our commitment to respect the dignity of every individual. We have changed the language that we use to refer to migrants who arrive in the United States and seek relief and who do not have yet lawful presence. We do not use the term “illegal alien” unless we are referring to that defined term in the statute itself, whether we are quoting from the statute or referring directly to it. We use the term “non-citizen.” In addition, no longer will the United States government accept substandard treatment of individuals in immigration detention and fail to respect the dignity that they—like any human being—have. And as a result, we have for the first time ever closed two immigration detention facilities that did not succeed in adhering to that core value.

Our vision for the Department is a Department that is nimble to address the dynamism of the threat landscape that we confront. To not only be prepared to address the threat that is before us, but to be nimble and dynamic, to be ready for the threat that might come one day that we do not yet see. To reestablish, also, the security of our values as well as to strengthen the security of our homeland. And let me then, in this regard, end on a note of generosity and hope because the challenges that we in the Department confront are, quite frankly, at the epicenter of the divide that this country is suffering and the divisiveness that we are enduring.

Our Department is privileged to have been designated as the lead federal agency in Operation Allies Welcome, the all-of-government and the public-private effort to resettle vulnerable Afghan nationals here in the United States. And what we have seen across the country is an extraordinary outpouring of generosity regardless of political party affiliation, and regardless of what one thinks of many of the issues I have discussed. It is not unanimity, by any means, but it is a united effort to extend this Nation's generosity in its proud tradition of being a place of refuge.

Allow me to share two stories from my visit to Fort Lee, one of the military facilities where the vulnerable Afghan nationals reside until they are resettled into the communities across the country. First, I was able to meet one of the immigration officers at the military installation who was processing the paperwork of the Afghans. And this is an individual who in 2009 and 2010 himself had served in Afghanistan. And he had met during his time of service there an individual who provided him with interpretation support in Afghanistan, an individual who made his job successful, and he kept in touch with the Afghan interpreter over the course of the ensuing 10 years. And but two weeks ago, this immigration officer, which served in combat in Afghanistan, who would maintain communication with the interpreter who had worked side by side with him those 10, 11, 12 years earlier across the world, was able to process the immigration paperwork of the interpreter and his family as someone who our country had rescued and brought to safety here to the United States.

Every soldier whom I met at Fort Lee commented about how it was one of the proudest chapters in their careers of service to be a part of Operation Allies Welcome and to contribute to the effort. And they shared with me the fact that, as the Afghans disembark from the bus that has brought them to the military facility, the soldiers provide the children with an American flag. And when the children wave that flag, their fathers place their hands over their hearts in gratitude, in reverence, and out of respect for what our country has meant to them. And that is what we stand for and that is what we can the Department of Homeland Security, under the leadership of President Biden and with our sister agencies and departments across the federal enterprise and with communities across this country are so very proud to deliver to people in need.

Thanks so very much. Thank you so much.

Keywords: Border Security, Cybersecurity, Disaster Relief, Domestic Terrorism, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Immigration Reform, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Terrorism Prevention
Topics: Secretary of Homeland Security

Secretary Mayorkas Delivers Remarks on Operation Allies Welcome

Fri, 03 Sep 2021 16:47:28 -0400

On September 3, 2021, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas and Senior Response Official of the Unified Coordination Group Robert J. Fenton, Jr. delivered remarks on Operation Allies Welcome, the all-of-government effort to support vulnerable Afghans, including those who assisted the United States in Afghanistan, as they safely resettle in the United States. President Biden has directed the Department of Homeland Security to lead these ongoing efforts.

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Transcript of Secretary Mayorkas's remarks:

Good morning. Thank you for joining us today.

Before we speak about Operation Allies Welcome, I want to give you a brief update on our response to Hurricane Ida. First and foremost, our hearts break for the families and loved ones that we lost in Hurricane Ida and its aftermath, from landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi, to the more recent flooding in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. We offer our prayers and our support to your communities. We share in your grief, and your resolve to rebuild and recover.

President Biden is visiting Louisiana today and I want to reiterate what he, our FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, and all of us have made clear from the start: Our federal government said that we would be ready to respond to this massive and catastrophic storm, and we were. We pre-positioned personnel, assets, and resources on the Gulf Coast and in key areas ahead of time. We had meals and water in place for anyone forced from their home. We secured generators for hospitals, so they could continue to treat patients no matter what. We continue working to provide the states with fuel to cover any shortages. Right now, we encourage people to stay away from flooded and damaged areas for their own safety. And I make this pledge, thanks to the extraordinary team at FEMA and our partners in state and local government, just as we were there before and during the storm, we will be there long after to help the impacted individuals, families, and communities, in their recovery.

Now let me turn to Operation Allies Welcome. I am joined today by a remarkable public servant, Bob Fenton, about whom I will speak in a moment.

Yesterday, I visited three sites that are part of Operation Allies Welcome, our unprecedented, historic effort to resettle in the United States tens of thousands of Afghan nationals, many of whom assisted the United States and many of whom are vulnerable women and girls. One of the sites I visited was the Dulles Expo Center, a large care shelter where the people and their families are checked in, offered a COVID vaccine, fed, provided medical care, counseled, and sheltered before their onward movement.

I spoke with a relief worker who has dedicated her 20-year federal career to refugee work around the world. She said that tragically, wherever she has worked abroad, the refugees feel fear when they see a soldier in uniform. For the past 11 days, she has been working around the clock at the Dulles Expo Center. Each day, she makes it a point to walk around the facility, alongside an American soldier in uniform. Why? Because it gives her stature. The Afghan Nationals look at the soldier as their protector. It is the American soldier who has brought them to safety in America. Every single day our military personnel perform heroic work in the service of so many.

Operation Allies Welcome is the ongoing effort to bring Americans home, and to bring vulnerable Afghans to the United States and support their resettlement. The President of the United States has the authority to designate a federal agency to lead a federal response. Last Friday, he designated the Department of Homeland Security as the lead federal agency to coordinate Operation Allies Welcome to help ensure unity of effort, clear roles and responsibilities, synchronized priorities, and effective coordination across the federal government.

This initiative requires us to call on the resources, expertise, and authorities of every part of the federal government. DHS possesses vast operational expertise and a long record of leadership bringing different agencies together to execute a single mission. We have stood up a Unified Coordination Group—or UCG—to coordinate our efforts across the federal government. I have designated Bob Fenton, a top leader at FEMA, to lead the UCG. Mr. Fenton will report directly to me.

The Unified Coordination Group will focus on a broad range of services throughout vulnerable Afghans’ resettlement process, from initial immigration processing and COVID testing, to resettlement support for individuals who are neither US citizens nor lawful permanent residents. The resettlement support will include initial processing at pre-designated U.S. military bases prior to being resettled with and into communities.

DHS is fundamentally a Department of partnerships. We depend on close coordination with the intelligence community, law enforcement, state, local, tribal and territorial officials, nonprofit organizations, and social service groups. The team and I already have spoken with a number of governors, and local officials. I have met with more than 40 community-based organizations, including Afghan-American organizations, to learn of their ideas and recommendations. I have heard, and we will operationalize more robustly, their recommendations, including cultural competency, access to counsel, trauma counseling, and pastoral care. We will work to expedite receipt of donations from generous-hearted Americans throughout our great country.

The population of individuals brought to the United States includes US citizens, lawful permanent residents, Special Immigrant Visa holders, individuals who have assisted the United States in Afghanistan, and all other vulnerable Afghans, such as journalists and vulnerable women and girls.

First, the federal government has been focused on the screening and vetting of individuals evacuated from Afghanistan. The Department of Homeland Security remains ever vigilant against attempts by foreign adversaries to exploit vulnerable populations as a means of gaining access to the U.S. for nefarious purposes. Consequently, as part of a collaborative, interagency effort that includes DHS, the Departments of Defense and State, the FBI, the National Counterterrorism Center, and other agencies, the Federal Government has established a robust screening and vetting architecture with the dual goals of protecting the homeland and providing protections for vulnerable Afghans. In partnership with Federal agencies, we have built the security and vetting system to operate in the transit countries abroad. DHS has deployed nearly 400 employees from CBP’s Office of Field Operations, the Coast Guard, TSA, and other agencies to assist in the vetting process.

In addition, we and the Department of Defense have shipped hundreds of biometric screening machines to the transit third countries. In those transit countries, we conduct our biometric and biographic screening. This includes checking against multiple agencies’ records. Our policy is not to board flights to the United States until they are cleared. We undertake quality-control checks at every step of the travel process, including while the individuals are in route and before de-planeing.

Most individuals arrive at Dulles or Philadelphia Airport, where they are processed for entry and tested for COVID. For those who are not U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, or do not otherwise have a support system here in the United States, the vast majority are opting to go to a military base pending resettlement efforts. Thanks to the partnership with the Department of Defense, we have designated eight military bases for this purpose. Through the Unified Coordination Group, at the military bases, we are providing the resources individuals need to include medical care, language access resources, immigration assistance, and other vital services.

In addition to DHS and the Department of Defense, the federal agencies working on this effort include the Department of State, Health and Human Services, Justice, and Education. Our goal is to move the vulnerable Afghan nationals out of the military bases and have them resettled successfully in the community as swiftly and safely as possible. We are building the public-private partnership to achieve this objective at scale.

This is just the beginning of this operation, and there's far more to come, But here's the bottom line: In just the last few weeks, more than 120,000 people have been safely evacuated from a Kabul. Among them are thousands of vulnerable Afghans, many have worked on behalf of the United States. We have a moral imperative to protect them, to support those who have supported this Nation. We have an obligation to do so in a way that protects our national security and preserves public safety.

At Fort Lee, one of the military bases designated to receive vulnerable Afghan nationals, I heard two stories yesterday that helped communicate the meaning of our operation and the meaning of our country. When families arrived at Fort Lee, the children are given an American flag. As the children wave the flag, the Afghan men place their hands over their hearts out of respect, in gratitude, and in reverence. I met with a federal government employee who was working at Fort Lee to help Afghan nationals in the immigration process. The federal government employee served in Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010. He was supported by an Afghan national who worked as his interpreter. The federal government employee has kept in touch with the interpreter for the past 10 years. Last week he assisted the interpreter and his family with their immigration papers at Fort Lee.

As we move forward through this process, these individuals will be resettled across the country. Just like generations of newcomers throughout our history, they will have the opportunity to enrich the fabric of our Nation. And I would ask all Americans to welcome them into our communities. That must be the promise and the purpose of Operation Allies Welcome. We have a solemn duty to meet this mission, and I know, together, we will.

With that, I will turn things over to Bob.

Transcript of Bob Fenton’s remarks:

Thank you, sir. I'm honored to be leading the Unified Coordination Group, which has been working around-the-clock with multiple different federal agencies to establish a robust process in which agencies from across the government can come together to meet the needs of the mission at hand.

We have an integrated screening and security vetting process, which includes biometric and biographic screening. This is conducted by intelligence, law enforcement, counterterrorism professionals from, not only the Department of Homeland Security and CBP, but also from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Defense, the State Department, the National Counterterrorism Center, and additional intelligence partners.

We are ensuring that we have the adequate resources in place to provide health screening as individuals come into the airports to test for COVID-19 and offer vaccinations to everyone who arrives in the United States as part of the Operation Allies Welcome. We continue to take every precaution to stop the spread of COVID-19.

With the help of CBP and USCIS, we are coordinating for personnel to be available at every step of the immigration process to assist as appropriate. USCIS has deployed personnel to adjudicate applications for employment authorization and other immigration-related processes.

It is our responsibility to work with the Department of Defense to provide for the safety and well-being of those who have transitioned into the different military facilities that have become operational across the United States. Thus far, we have eight facilities that are safe havens that we're using: Fort Bliss, Fort Lee, Fort McCoy, Fort Pickett, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, Camp Atterbury, Marine Corps Base Quantico, and then Holloman Air Force Base.

And lastly, we are working across the federal government, with help from our federal, state, private, nonprofit, local NGOs, and local governments to ensure that, after the Afghan nationals have left our care, they are properly integrated into communities across the United States with the compassionate support that is needed. Thank you.

Keywords: Operation Allies Welcome, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
Topics: Secretary of Homeland Security

Secretary Mayorkas Delivers Remarks in Brownsville, Texas

Thu, 12 Aug 2021 18:20:34 -0400

On August 12, 2021 Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas delivered remarks on what the Department of Homeland Security is doing to address the situation at the border and the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to build a fair, orderly, and humane immigration system.

Transcript of Secretary Mayorkas’ Remarks as Delivered

Brownsville, Texas

Good afternoon. Thank you very much for being here today. I am here to visit our workforce, to meet with community members and leaders and law enforcement personnel. I especially want to recognize and thank the men and women of the United States Border Patrol who are doing absolutely heroic work in the service of our nation and to uphold our laws. Under the leadership of President Biden, we are doing everything we can to provide them with the resources they need to do the work in the way they feel most proud. I want to introduce to you, Raul Ortiz. With more than 29 years of service in the United States Border Patrol, Chief Ortiz will become the Chief of the Border Patrol, effective this Saturday, I also want to introduce to you Dr. Pritesh Gandhi, the Department of Homeland Security's Chief Medical Officer. 

At the very outset, I want to communicate very clearly that the situation at the border is one of the toughest challenges we face. It is complicated, changing, and involves vulnerable people at a time of a global pandemic. I want to provide information to you, the facts, the challenge we face and why, and our plan to meet the challenge. That is what we do: we confront challenges, and we meet them. 

I also want to take a few minutes to debunk false information that has been spread. Before I provide the latest numbers, and they reflect an increase in encounters in between the ports of entry, I want to explain who the migrants are, the composition of the migrant population, and the processes we follow. First, let me start with the unaccompanied children. As I think all of you know in the prior administration, Title 42 authority of the Centers for Disease Control was used to expel unaccompanied children regardless of their age and that is a practice that we discontinued immediately in the Biden Administration, for humanitarian reasons, because in fact, they are just children, some, so very tender of age. 

These children are eligible to make a claim for asylum or to pursue Special Immigrant Juvenile status in court proceedings, under our laws. We, in the United States Border Patrol, transfer them to Health and Human Services, for they, their care, custody and control as quickly as possible, to unite them with a parent or legal guardian, here in the United States before they make their claim for asylum or their claim for Special Immigrant Juvenile status. You will recall in March of this year, we experienced a tremendous crowding in our Border Patrol stations of unaccompanied children and I said then that it was a challenge for us, that we had a plan to meet that challenge, and that we were executing on that plan, and that it would indeed take time. That is what we did. And we cleared the Border Patrol of the overcrowding, of the unaccompanied children, in execution of our plan. Next, and of course I should say that of course we have unaccompanied children still in Border Patrol custody, but we are moving them much, much faster than we did in March and under the 72 hours that is required by law. Next, we have the single adults. Single adults, the great majority of single adults are expelled under the Title 42 authority, the public health authority of the Centers for Disease Control. They are processed very quickly, turned around, and sent back. If they are not expelled, they are placed into removal proceedings, which are immigration enforcement proceedings. They are prosecuted for removal, and are removed, unless they make a successful claim for relief and establish that they are entitled to remain in the United States, under the laws that Congress has passed. 

Finally, the third category of individuals or families: individuals who comprise family units. They are expelled under the Title 42 authority, unless we are unable to do so. For example, in certain parts of Mexico, they have no longer any capacity to receive expelled families and in that instance, we place the families in immigration proceedings, in immigration enforcement proceedings for removal [from] the United States, and they are removed unless they make a claim for relief under United States law, and that claim is ultimately successful. We are encountering an unprecedented number of migrants in between the ports of entry at our Southern border. A few points: we have seen my surges in migration before. We've seen them in the past, and migrations surges are not new. Two, and importantly, migrants encountered at our border are expelled or are placed in immigration enforcement proceedings. The rise in encounters of migrants at the Southern border began in April of 2020, last year, but the increase is most certainly sharper over the past several months, and greater than in June. 

Allow me to share with you the CBP enforcement numbers for July. 212,672 persons were encountered attempting entry along the Southwest border, a 13% increase over June 2021. A majority continue to be single adults. Specifically, approximately 52%. This is a 6% decrease from June. 95,788 individuals, more than 45% of July encounters, were processed for expulsion under Title 42. 116,884 individuals were processed under Title 8. Those are removal proceedings—immigration enforcement proceedings—as distinct from Title 42 public health authority proceedings under the CDC‘s authority. 85,563 single adults, or 78% were processed for expulsion under Title 42, with 24,880 processed under Title 8. Lastly, 9,948 family unit individuals, or 12%. were processed for expulsion under Title 42, with 73,018 processed under Title 8. 

These numbers, I think this is a very important point, these numbers do not reflect the number of different people who were encountered at the border. The large number of expulsions under Title 42 during the pandemic has contributed to a large number of migrants, making multiple border crossing attempts. 27% of encounters, in July, were individuals who had at least one prior encounter in the past 12 months. The number of unique individuals, if you will, encountered in July, 2021 was 154,288. A total of 845,307 unique individuals have been encountered year-to-date during fiscal year 2021, compared to, let me repeat that number. 845,307 unique individuals, different individuals, have been encountered year-to-date in fiscal year 2021, as compared to 796,400, during the same period in 2019. 

There are several reasons for the rise in migrant encounters at the Southern border. Worsening conditions, of course, in the countries of origin, including poverty, a rise in violence, and corruption. Young boys whose lives are threatened, if they declined to join gangs. Young women who are vulnerable to rape while they walk to school. Tragically, former President Trump slashed our international assistance to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Slashed the resources that we were contributing to address the root causes of irregular migration. Another reason is the end of the cruel policies of the past administration and the restoration of the rule of laws of this country that Congress has passed, including our asylum laws that provide humanitarian relief. And thirdly, and importantly, is the resurgence of the economy in the United States, and the gleam of the American promise, once again. 

We're facing a serious challenge at our Southern border, and the challenge is of course made more acute, more difficult because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also been made more difficult because of the, of the fact that the prior administration dismantled our asylum system. Nevertheless, we meet challenges. We meet difficult ones, we do so with our heroic workforce, our expertise, our plans, and our execution of our plans. Here again, just as we did with the challenge of unaccompanied children, in March of this year, we have a plan, we are executing our plan, and that takes time. 

Our plan has four pivotal parts: addressing the root causes, rebuilding and building safe, legal, and orderly pathways for migrants to apply for relief under our laws, without having to take the burden perilous journey north, improving security management, processing and other measures at our border, and attacking the smugglers. We've done a great deal and we need to do more. We are doing it with our partners throughout the federal government in an all-of-government effort directed by our President, and we are partnering with law enforcement, community based organizations, and many others. 

Let me speak of the actions that we have taken, or at least some of the actions that we have taken in each part of our plan. First, in addressing the root causes, the effort that our Vice President is leading. On her trip to Guatemala, Vice President Harris announced that USAID and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation will provide up to $48 million in U.S. government resources to advance the economic security opportunity in Guatemala. On July 29, the U.S. government launched our strategy to address the root causes of migration in Central America, which guides our whole-of-government effort to improve the security, governance, human rights, and economic conditions in the region. USAID already has launched a series of new initiatives to promote good governance and expand opportunities that will enable the people of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to build better futures in their home countries. This includes the region-wide $5 million regional challenge to advance gender equality. In Honduras, nearly $24 million to expand employment opportunities and promote civic and election participation and integrity. In El Salvador, nearly $12 million to help small businesses recover from the impact of COVID, as well as new multi-year solicitations for up to $115 million to address crime and violence, including gender-based violence and provide opportunities to youth and others. In Guatemala, more than $19 million to strengthen anti-corruption efforts. These are but a few of the examples of the efforts that are already underway to address the root causes of irregular migration. 

Let me speak about what we have done and what we have underway to build safe, legal, and orderly pathways, so that people do not need to take the perilous journey North. On June 10, the U.S. Government announced more than $57 million in funds to support urgent humanitarian needs of vulnerable refugees and migrants in Central America. The Department of State opened the first Migration Resource Center in Guatemala to provide individuals with protection screening and referrals to asylum, refugee resettlement, and parole options. And I had the privilege and opportunity to visit the migration, the Migrant Resource Center in Guatemala. last month. The President issued a new Fiscal Year 2021 Presidential Determination on refugees that created 5,000 slots for refugees from Latin America and the Caribbean. On March 10, our department, the Department of Homeland Security, and State reopened the Central American Minors, or CAM program, to reunite children who are nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras, with their parents in the United States. On June 15, we announced the expansion of the Central American Minors program that was a program that was working and that President Trump dismantled. DHS set aside 6,000 H-2B visas for temporary nonagricultural workers for nationals from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. On July 29, last week, the U.S. Government, we launched the Collaborative Migration Management Strategy, the first of its kind to strengthen cooperative efforts to manage safe, orderly, and humane migration in North and Central America. 

We are also, as I mentioned, improving processing at the Southern border in implementing other measures, not only to stop recidivism, but to tackle the challenge in other ways, including to strengthen enforcement. We have deployed additional personnel to the Southern border. We have increased lateral flights of migrants to address capacity constraints in Mexico. Our expulsion flights are now increasingly moving into the interior of Mexico, so return, so recidivism is not as easy. We are doing so in collaboration with Mexico. We are prosecuting individuals who have been previously removed from the United States, because they have unsuccessfully made a claim for relief under our laws, we are undertaking expedited removal proceedings. Under our law, we have, in certain circumstances, the ability and the capacity to accomplish the removal of individuals who do not qualify to remain in the United States to do so more expeditiously and we are using those authorities. In partnership with the Department of Justice, we are proceeding in accelerated fashion with immigration court proceedings to deliver justice, more rapidly, without compromising due process. We are working with Mexico to increase interdictions. I visited Mexico with other officials in the Administration, but two days ago, to speak about how we can more effectively partner together and what more they can do in the context of our overall relationship as close partners. 

We have increased our law, our law enforcement operations in partnership with the Mexican authorities. I met again with the Attorney General of Mexico, as well as north of the border here in the United States, in an all-of-government effort working in task forces, both within the Department of Homeland Security, and with our partners in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in the Drug Enforcement Administration, and other law enforcement agencies across the Federal enterprise. We are prepared to do more as the situation warrants. It is critical that intending migrants understand clearly that they will be turned back if they enter the United States illegally and do not have a basis for relief under our laws. 

We are also at the same time, developing and implementing foundational changes to the system, addressing problems that have existed for many, many years, but have never been solved. In the coming days, our department will announce that we are making changes and improvements to how we process asylum claims. We continue to rebuild our immigration system to ensure fairness and promote equity. We are expanding the virtual platform that we use so successfully to assist the migrants in Camp Matamoros, which was intolerable conditions. We are using that virtual platform where migrants could register using their phones, and we were working with and are continuing to work with, and will increasingly work with community-based organizations in Mexico, international relief organizations, like the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, like UNICEF, like the International Organization for Migration, to bring in individuals in a safe, orderly, and humane way, when in fact they make a claim for relief under United States law that the law recognizes. We are also, of course, addressing the detention conditions here in the United States, and of course I think you're all aware of the measures we've taken in that regard and we will continue to take the measures that the situation warrants. 

As I mentioned earlier, the COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique and significant challenge. We are seeing an increase in positivity rate among the migrant population. We built an architecture to test and isolate the migrants who make a legal claim for asylum.* With respect to unaccompanied children, they are tested and cohorted on intake, before we move them as rapidly as possible to the shelter of Health and Human Services. With respect to families, we continue to operate centers where families are tested and isolated as needed. We are working and have established a system with non-governmental organizations in the communities to test and isolate, family members, as a situation warrants. And, as I mentioned earlier, the predominant majority of single adults are expelled rapidly from the Border Patrol. 

Now, of course, the Delta variant makes the situation more difficult. Our capacity to test, isolate, and quarantine the vulnerable population, that makes a legal claim for asylum, is stretched. The rate of positivity among the migrants is at or lower than the rates in our local border communities. As has been expressed by the medical professionals, this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. We are building new capacity to address the situation, and we are doing so as rapidly as possible. The extent of the challenge should not be understated. But nor should our ability to meet it. Thanks to our workforce, our expertise, our plans, and our execution of those plans. Our mission is to protect the American public and to administer the laws of our nation. Consistent with that, our efforts will uphold our laws, and will uphold our values. That includes the laws of humanitarian relief, as well as the laws of enforcement. We will work relentlessly to thwart illegal immigration, and to adjudicate asylum claims fairly and efficiently. Both are embedded in the law and we are committed to upholding both. As we work to meet these long-standing challenges, we do not turn our backs on our values, our principles, our humanity, and our proudest traditions. With that, let me turn it over to Chief Raul Ortiz, of the United States Border Patrol. Thank you. 

*DHS coordinates closely with local NGOs and local jurisdictions on building and implementing testing, isolation, and quarantine infrastructure. DHS has developed a partnership model to test and isolate families who test positive for COVID-19, and reimburse 100% of the cost, provided that the state does not stand in the way.

Keywords: Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
Topics: Border Security

Secretary Mayorkas Delivers Keynote Address at Black Hat USA

Thu, 05 Aug 2021 18:02:36 -0400

On August 5, 2021, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas spoke at Black Hat USA.

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Good Afternoon. I’m very sorry that I’m not joining you in person. I was very much looking forward to being with you in Vegas again, including to stop by QueerCon and other events, but the unprecedented situation with respect to COVID-19 and the rising Delta variant prevents me from being there with you. I can assure you that if I was there in-person, I wouldn’t be dressed like I am now.

As you know better than most, a lot has changed in the last six years.

As it relates to the cybersecurity landscape, we’ve shifted from news headlines about data breaches and espionage, to ransomware attacks disrupting hospitals, schools, food suppliers, and pipelines.

The assaults on companies like Colonial Pipeline, JBS Foods, and Kaseya, not to mention interference in our elections, have reinforced the importance of cybersecurity, of how we govern the internet, and of why we need a free and secure cyberspace.

What we face today is a need to put the big questions of our time into perspective. In order to do so, let me take you back, for a moment, a couple hundred years.

At a time long before the world could fathom the concept of computers, cyberspace, coding, hacking, or anything like it.

Let’s turn to the early and mid-19^th century, when some of the most powerful nations on the planet engaged in what would later be known as the “Great Game.”

This was an era when the competition for geopolitical influence pitted Great Britain against Russia and China over the question of who would control the vast land mass of Central Asia. Who would determine the rules of the road for trade, travel, and commerce – and whose values and priorities would shape societies across the globe.

The fight then was over land. Access to land led to control over people’s lives, health, jobs, and wellbeing. And there was a divide: between a deeply flawed yet aspiring democracy in Britain, and the Czars and dynasties who were focused on autocratic control over everything in their path – promoting and enforcing a closed, disconnected, and oppressive system.

We could spend many hours discussing the legacy of this chapter in history, what it means for us now, what has changed, and what lessons we can and should glean from it.

But here at Black Hat, I want to use this legacy as a jumping off point to discuss another “Great Game” that is playing out before us today and that will in fact dramatically shape our future.

Although we’re no longer fighting for control of land, we are competing for territory we cannot see.

We are competing for the future of cyberspace – one in which friends gather, colleagues communicate, businesses sell, consumers buy, dissidents organize, horrific crimes occur, governments hear from their citizens, and information is widely and quickly disseminated.

We are competing between two visions – one from countries like Russia, China, and Iran who want to limit access and maximize control, and another from the United States and our allies who want to build and protect a free, open, and secure internet.

We must ultimately confront some critical questions.

Who will build, own, control, and operate the underlying infrastructure of the internet, extending from undersea cables to data centers?

Who will shape the future of data routing?

How will we protect both privacy and security, online and offline?

How will we better protect ourselves against continuously growing and quickly evolving cyber threats?

Every day, the Department of Homeland Security tackles these issues – which are not limited to the “Great Game” that exists between democratic and authoritarian governments, as they also include the relationship between government and private sector entities.

The role we play in this space may surprise many of you.

Take the U.S. Secret Service, which is part of our Department and responsible not only for protecting the President, but also actively fighting ransomware and a range of other cyber-enabled crimes.

Or look at TSA, best known for protecting airport security, as so many of us know, that maintains regulatory authority over pipelines, which we leveraged following the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack to take urgent and critical measures to better protect against immediate cyber threats.

Or consider the Coast Guard, which saves thousands of lives at sea every year, and also protects the maritime transportation system against cyber threats.

And last, look at the Department’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA as it is commonly known, which is the federal government’s quarterback on cybersecurity. CISA reinforces our cyber resilience and equips critical infrastructure owners and operators, cities and states, businesses and organizations of all sizes, and even hospitals and schools, with the tools to defend against cyberattacks.

Earlier today you heard from Jen Easterly, CISA’s new Director, who talked about her journey from mastering the Rubik’s Cube as a child to attending West Point, serving in Iraq and at Fort Meade, working as a senior leader at Morgan Stanley, and now serving at DHS to help us confront some of the most urgent challenges currently facing our country.

Jen exemplifies the impressive talent we have brought together at DHS to work on cybersecurity and resilience.

I am particularly excited about the new Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative that CISA is launching to unite stakeholders from across the federal government and the private sector around a whole-of-nation approach to cyber defense operations.

I have said before that the Department of Homeland Security—DHS—is fundamentally a department of partnerships. This Collaborative is just one of many efforts underway designed to leverage our partners to keep our communities safe.

We’re really hard at work and we have no illusions about the road ahead. There is nothing simple about the cybersecurity challenges we face, and we need your help to get this right. We need your expertise to inform our policies and the future of our critical mission.

We invite you to share your views with us. We will not shy away from the most complex matters before us. In fact, we invite a fierce debate.

Take, for example, data routing.

There are open-ended questions we simply cannot ignore.

Who will protect data as it travels around the world?

Should the United States government take a more proactive role in shaping data flows – or do we leave that responsibility to the private sector?

How can we ensure that American technology enterprises remain at the heart of the internet’s infrastructure across every layer, from the edge to the center, as we move forward?

How will we set the rules? How will we balance the United States and our allies’ priorities to create more openness, connectivity, and freedom, while autocratic regimes like Russia and China are laying claim to greater control with zero transparency or accountability?

These debates are necessary. The search for smart solutions is essential. And the demand for balanced, principled policies is unquestioned.

At the Department of Homeland Security, we’re dedicating considerable time, energy, and resources to carefully think through these complicated questions. And alongside our counterparts worldwide and in the private sector, we work to solve them. We would really benefit from your expertise and we invite you to join the conversation.

We cannot ignore an essential truth: we are all in this together.

We must also acknowledge what we all know, which is that full agreement on every issue is impossible, and unanimity cannot be the measure of success or progress.

The fact is, the strength of our democracy, the promotion of a free and open internet, the fairness of our economies, and the security of our communities is a shared responsibility that is more timely and more relevant than ever before.

These ideals apply to what is happening in cyber space; what is transpiring on the internet; and how we govern the digital sphere where so much engagement, activism, advocacy, education, and economic activity occur today.

The “Great Game” is playing out in cyber space right now.

I know that all of you love to work on tough problems. You’re compelled to solve seemingly unsolvable puzzles. So, here’s the bottom line: we need your help.

We cannot answer these questions alone and we want you to join us in addressing them.

There are two immediate ways you can get involved.

First, come work with us at the Department of Homeland Security. Join our team of cybersecurity experts at CISA and the rest of DHS. Lead the charge on the inside and help us tackle growing challenges head on.

I am proud to announce that we’re launching our new Cyber Talent Management System in short order. This initiative – which is the product of a law enacted seven years ago – will give us more flexibility to hire the very best cyber talent and ensure we can compete more effectively with the private sector.

It’s taken too long to get here, but we are proud to have gotten this hiring effort over the finish line. Developing a top-tier, diverse cybersecurity workforce will remain a priority for us at DHS and the federal government under the Biden-Harris Administration.

I cannot overstate the pride and sense of profound fulfillment one will have in joining our team. You can really do a lot here with us.

Second, if you are not interested in working with us, you can help bridge the gap between the hacker community and the federal government. As our partners and experts in the field, you can be our defenders of a free, open, and secure internet, and you can help inspire the next generation of cyber talent too.

Just a couple days ago, we kicked off a new partnership with Girl Scouts of the USA to provide girls with the tools and resources to learn more about cybersecurity and become active ambassadors for related best practices in their communities.

We are increasing access to the field of cybersecurity across every level. We seek to draw on every ounce of talent and maximize the incredible potential that exists in communities across our country. We want every voice at the table.

We need your creativity, your ideas, your boldness, and your willingness to push limits. We need you to help us navigate a path that has not yet been mapped.

What’s at stake here is nothing less than the future of the Internet, the future of our economic and national security, and the future of our country.

So let’s keep this conversation going. To protect our neighbors, our networks, our families, our rights, and ourselves, we have to work together.

Let’s do it, and thanks very much.

Keywords: Cyber, Cyber Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
Topics: Cybersecurity, Secretary of Homeland Security

Secretary Mayorkas Overviews U.S. Maritime Migrant Interdiction Operations

Tue, 13 Jul 2021 22:17:43 -0400

On July 13, 2021, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas spoke about U.S. Maritime Migrant Interdiction Operations at a DHS press briefing. See below for the Secretary’s remarks:

Thank you for being here today. DHS is closely monitoring conditions on the ground in Haiti and Cuba. The Biden-Harris Administration and the Department of Homeland Security are committed to supporting the Haitian people. DHS recently sent 3 officials as part of an inter-agency delegation to Haiti in response to the Haitian government’s request for security and investigative assistance. We are committed to supporting the Haitian government as it seeks justice in this case and we affirm the United States’ support for the people of Haiti.

We also stand in solidarity with the Cuban people and their call for freedom from the repression and economic suffering that the Cuban’s authoritarian regime is causing. DHS is working with our partners to support the Haitian and Cuban people.

The Coast Guard, along with our state, local, and federal partners are monitoring any activity that may indicate increases in unsafe and irregular maritime migration in the Florida straits, including unpermitted vessel departures from Florida to Cuba.

The time is never right to attempt migration by sea. To those who risk their lives doing so, this risk is not worth taking. Allow me to be clear: if you take to the Sea, you will not come to the United States.

Homeland Security Task Force Southeast, headed by the Coast Guard's Seventh District Commander, is responsible for the DHS response to maritime migration. This task force has been in place for more than 18 years and it exists to prevent and respond to maritime migration in the Caribbean. Our mission and operations in the Southeast remain unchanged and we will continue to interdict migrants attempting to enter the United States irregularly.

The Coast Guard maintains a continual presence in the Florida straits and the Caribbean Sea, particularly around Puerto Rico and our maritime approaches, patrolling with air and sea military assets. Any migrant intercepted at sea, regardless of their nationality, will not be permitted to enter the United States. Migrants who do attempt to enter the United States by sea put their lives at incredible risk. The waters in the straits of Florida in the Caribbean are dangerous, especially now as we have entered hurricane season. People will die.

The transit is dangerous and unforgiving. We have seen 20 lives lost in recent weeks, as a result of these dangerous voyages. In addition, the threat of serious illness when boarding vessels in subpar conditions is greater at this time, during a pandemic.

The Coast Guard recently sent two cutters to the coast of Haiti, in addition to three others already in nearby waters. Our priority is to preserve and save lives. Even during the current pandemic, the Coast Guard maintains a continual presence in the Florida straits in the Caribbean Sea, particularly around Puerto Rico as I mentioned, and our maritime approaches, patrolling with air and sea military assets.

In May, I announced the designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status -- TPS -- for 18 months. Let me be clear, TPS is not an immigration program. It only benefits Haitian nationals who are already in the United States at the time of designation. TPS eligibility applies only to those Haitians who are already residing in the United States as of May 21, 2021 and who meet all other requirements.

Again, I repeat: do not risk your life attempting to enter the United States illegally. You will not come to the United States.

We, the Department of Homeland Security, and this Administration remain committed to supporting the Haitian and the Cuban people, and we will continue our efforts in this regard.

Keywords: Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. Coast Guard (USCG)
Topics: Border Security