DEF CON 23 - Alejandro Mayorkas - Working together to keep the Internet safe and secure
Channel: DEFCONConference
Date: 2015-12-25

Working together to keep the Internet safe and secure 
Alejandro Mayorkas Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security

We all have a role to play when it comes to ensuring the safety and security of the Internet, whether you are a federal employee, the CEO of a company, or a private citizen. Today’s threats require the engagement of our entire society. This shared responsibility means that we have to work with each other in ways that is often new for the government and the private sector. This means that we also have to trust each other and share information. While we have achieved some successes, we have much more work to do. Deputy Secretary Mayorkas will highlight the role that DHS plays in securing the Internet and discuss the challenges and opportunities to collaborate across our society and across borders.

Alejandro Mayorkas was sworn in as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security on December 23, 2013. Since 2009, following his nomination by President Obama and subsequent confirmation, Deputy Secretary Mayorkas served as the Director of the Department of Homeland Security’s United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency charged with operating the largest immigration system in the world. In that position, he led a workforce of 18,000 members throughout more than 250 offices worldwide and oversaw a $3 billion annual budget. While at USCIS he oversaw a number of important programs and enhancements, including the implementation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) as well as important reforms that safeguard our nation’s security, and ensure the integrity of the immigration system.

Prior to his appointment at USCIS, Deputy Secretary Mayorkas was a partner in the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers LLP. In 2008, the National Law Journal recognized Deputy Secretary Mayorkas as one of the “50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America.”

In 1998, Deputy Secretary Mayorkas was nominated by President Clinton and confirmed by the Senate to be the United States Attorney for the Central District of California, becoming the youngest U.S. Attorney to serve the nation at that time. In addition to leading an office of 240 Assistant U.S. Attorneys, Mayorkas served as the ViceChair of the Attorney General’s Advisory Subcommittee on Civil Rights and as a member of the Subcommittee on Ethics in Government. From 1989 to 1998, Mayorkas served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California.

Deputy Secretary Mayorkas is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and received his law degree from Loyola Law School.