WASHINGTON – Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas announced the appointment of 33 new members to the Homeland Security Advisory Council (the “Council”), in advance of the Council’s first meeting on March 21, 2022. For the past several months, Secretary Mayorkas has been working to build an HSAC to help define the Department’s strategic vision, strengthen the Department to better meet the increasingly dynamic and rapidly evolving threat landscape, and harness technology and innovation to modernize the programs it administers.
“These distinguished leaders have agreed to serve our country as members of the Homeland Security Advisory Council at a critically important time not only for the nation, but also for the world,” said Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “Together, we will ensure that the Department is best positioned to meet the challenges we confront today, foresee and be ready for the challenges of tomorrow, capitalize on the power of technological innovation, and serve our country by living up to our highest ideals. Our Department is privileged to benefit from the experience, vision, and creativity of these incredibly accomplished individuals.”
The new members of the Secretary’s Advisory Council include former Cabinet Secretaries from both Democratic and Republican administrations; chief executive officers from the technology, energy, transportation, financial, food and consumer products, and venture capital industries; executive leaders of national law enforcement organizations; Presidents and CEOs of non-profit organizations dedicated to human rights, government accountability, and community security and empowerment; leaders of nonpartisan policy institutes; and other leading professionals.
Additionally, today Secretary Mayorkas appointed new member Jamie Gorelick as a Co-Chair of the Council. Gorelick, Partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, LLP. and previously served as Deputy Attorney General, a member of the Defense Policy Board, and a member of the bipartisan National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the "9/11 Commission"), joins the Council’s illustrious leadership team made up of Co-Chair William Bratton, current Executive Chairman of Teneo Risk Advisory, and former Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and Commissioner of the New York City Police Department, and Vice Chair Karen Tandy, Former Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Judge William Webster serves as Chair Emeritus.
Secretary Mayorkas has appointed the following individuals to the HSAC:
- Jayson Ahern, Principal, The Chertoff Group
- John Allen, President, The Brookings Institution
- Dmitri Alperovitch, Co-Founder and Chairman, Silverado Policy Accelerator
- Marc Andreessen, Co-Founder and General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz
- Cheryl Andrews-Maltais, Chairwoman, Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head Aquinnah
- Mary Barra, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, General Motors Company
- Tarika Barrett, Chief Executive Officer, Girls Who Code
- Noah Bookbinder, President and Chief Executive Officer, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
- Safra Catz, Chief Executive Officer, Oracle Corporation
- Catherine Chen, Chief Executive Officer, Polaris
- Michael Chertoff, Former Secretary of DHS and Co-Founder, The Chertoff Group
- Carrie Cordero, Senior Fellow & General Counsel, Center for a New American Security (CNAS)
- Lynn Good, Chair, President & Chief Executive Officer, Duke Energy
- Jamie Gorelick, Partner, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, LLP
- Danielle Gray, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Legal Officer, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.
- Jane Harman, Distinguished Fellow and President Emerita, The Woodrow Wilson Center
- Robert Isom, Incoming Chief Executive Officer, American Airlines
- Carie Lemack, Co-Founder, Zed Factor Fellowship
- Scott Kirby, Chief Executive Officer, United Airlines Holdings, Inc.
- Michael Masters, National Director & Chief Executive Officer, Secure Community Network
- Brian Moynihan, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America
- Janet Murguía, President and Chief Executive Officer, UnidosUS
- Leon Panetta, Former Secretary of Defense and Chairman, The Panetta Institute for Public Policy
- Ted Schlein, General Partner, Kleiner Perkins and Executive Chairman, Ballistic Ventures
- Sonal Shah, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Network Operations, United Way Worldwide, and Founding President, The Asian American Foundation
- Ali Soufan, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, The Soufan Group, LLC
- Todd Stern, Nonresident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
- Vincent Talucci, Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer, International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP)
- Jonathan Thompson, Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer, National Sheriffs’ Association
- Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Chobani, LLC
- Lynda R. Williams, Immediate Past President, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE)
- Patrick Yoes, National President, Fraternal Order of Police
- Wendy Young, President, Kids In Need of Defense (KIND)
Last year, Secretary Mayorkas announced that he was reconstituting and re-envisioning the Council to enable it to work more closely with the Department to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities that an evolving homeland security landscape presents and to define the Department of the future. The national leaders whose appointment Secretary Mayorkas announced today will bring their extraordinary experience and unique perspectives to the Department’s wide array of vital missions and the goals that Secretary Mayorkas has established.
Secretary Mayorkas anticipates making additional HSAC member appointments in the near future.
The Secretary and the HSAC members will work with subject matter experts in and outside the Department to develop strategies in the domestic and international domains. The members will provide independent advice and recommendations to the Secretary.
The HSAC was originally established in 2003 under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, a federal law that governs the establishment and operation of committees that provide consensus advice to a federal government agency.