Joint statement by Secretaries Mayorkas and Raimondo on President Biden’s new national security memorandum

Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas and Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo released a joint statement on President Biden’s signing of a new National Security Memorandum, “Improving Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Control Systems.”

“Today President Biden signed a new National Security Memorandum (NSM) to implement long overdue efforts to meet the scale and severity of the cybersecurity threats our country continues to face. This NSM takes a key step toward improving the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure by directing the Departments of Homeland Security and Commerce to work together, alongside other agencies, in developing cybersecurity performance goals that set a clear, easy-to-understand security baseline. The safety and security of the American people rely on the resilience of the companies that provide essential services such as power, water, and transportation. The establishment of cybersecurity performance goals marks important progress toward this goal. We look to responsible critical infrastructure owners and operators to follow voluntary guidance in order to ensure that the critical services the American people rely on are protected from cyber threats, and we are committed to working closely with our partners in the private sector to promote proactive cybersecurity practices that will protect our national and economic security.”