Senator Hassan Votes to Confirm Alejandro Mayorkas as DHS Secretary

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released the following statement after the Senate voted on a bipartisan basis today to confirm Alejandro Mayorkas as Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security:  

“The Department of Homeland Security is instrumental in keeping our country safe, secure, and free. Between foreign and domestic terrorist threats and the SolarWinds cybersecurity breach, it is crucial that we have someone leading the Department with the expertise and resolve to tackle these challenges and more. Secretary Mayorkas’ past leadership experience and depth of understanding on a range of national security threats will serve him well in this position. I look forward to working with Secretary Mayorkas and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to address the myriad of threats facing our country, including addressing terrorist threats at home and abroad, combating the substance misuse crisis, and bolstering our cybersecurity.”

Senator Hassan is focused on strengthening national security, and recently questioned Alejandro Mayorkas as a member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Senator Hassan successfully worked to pass the bipartisan DHS Data Framework Act – which is now law – to help ensure that analysts at the Department of Homeland Security can more efficiently identify terrorist threats. Due to the increasing number of cyber threats to government agencies and critical infrastructure, Senator Hassan introduced the bipartisan Hack DHS Act, which was signed into law, to strengthen cyber defenses at the Department of Homeland Security. In addition, the bipartisan DHS Opioid Detection Resilience Act became law last year. The bill will help ensure that personnel at the Department of Homeland Security have the tools that they need to more easily detect synthetic opioids like fentanyl, which are contributing to the devastating substance misuse crisis in New Hampshire and across the country.

###