Thread by @ericgeller

Biden picks Alejandro Mayorkas as DHS secretary, the transition team announces.

Mayorkas focused on cyber as DHS dep sec: info sharing, private sector trust issues, intl partnerships, breach lawsuit chilling effects, & need to reduce duplicative regs & improve agency oversight.

Among other things, Mayorkas led the DHS team that helped negotiate the 2015 deal with China that temporarily ended Beijing's IP theft.

He also helped negotiate the CISA info-sharing law and pushed for what would become the other CISA, the standalone cyber agency.

Cyber gets a prominent mention in Biden team's bio of Mayorkas (whose pick is obv much more significant for non-cyber reasons):

"During his tenure at DHS, he led the implementation of DACA, negotiated cybersecurity and homeland security agreements with foreign governments..."

Mayorkas would be the nation's first Latino and first immigrant to lead DHS.

Biden has also announced his selection of former CIA deputy director Avril Haines to be the first female Director of National Intelligence.

Rounding out the latest group of announcements: Jake Sullivan as national security adviser, Linda Thomas-Greenfield as U.N. ambassador, and John Kerry as special climate envoy.

Biden's team says these appointees "will start working immediately" to, among other things, "address the defining challenges of our time — from infectious disease, to terrorism, nuclear proliferation, cyber threats, and climate change."

The powers that be have decided to keep my story about Mayorkas' cyber experience behind our paywall, but if you're a Pro subscriber, you can read it here: subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2020/1…