Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas recently detailed evolving homeland security challenges during the 59th Munich Security Conference.
While addressing senior Intelligence personnel, Mayorkas emphasized the importance of enhancing information-sharing initiatives between nations and within their own societies to focus on the threats of 2023 and beyond.
“The intelligence that we in the United States gather and the intelligence that you gather must ultimately contribute to our collective security,” Mayorkas said during remarks made at the conference’s intelligence luncheon. “That is why this gathering is so important.
Our shared challenges and common adversaries create a heightened threat environment that requires more of us than ever before – more and better information sharing. More and better information to share. Nothing has made that more apparent than the latest Russian invasion, our need, and desire to support Ukraine, its people, and our imperative to protect our homelands.”
Mayorkas said with regard to the United States, the impending invasion of Ukraine underscored the urgency of sharing timely, actionable intelligence domestically with the private sector, particularly with the power, water, and transportation sectors.
“We are at an inflection point regarding the sharing of information that could impact the lives of millions of people,” Mayorkas concluded. “Are we equipped and ready to share information broadly enough? Is the right information reaching those who need it most, in sufficient time? None of us can do this alone or in isolation. It requires a whole-of-society effort. It requires a community effort. We need to increase exponentially our investment in international and subnational partnerships to prepare our nations for the threats we can predict and the ones we cannot.”