World in Transition: Migration, Cybersecurity, and New Leadership Discussed during ELP Seminar – Center for Homeland Defense and Security

“The world is in a huge transition. It’s a world gone sideways, if not a world on fire.”

That statement came from Alan Bersin, former Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and former Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs (Ret.) U.S. Department of Homeland Security, during an Executive Leaders Program in-residence seminar, November 14-17.

Bersin, along with John Tien, Former Deputy Security, Department of Homeland Security; Carla Gray, Senior Director of Safety and Security, Epics Games; and Steven Torrence, Director of Emergency Management, Marin County Office of Emergency Management were all guest speakers during the week-long program.

The speakers, all experts in their fields, offered their institutional knowledge, guidance, and input on homeland security’s most pressing issues. Issues ranged from border safety to cybersecurity, private/public partnerships, intergenerational collaboration, and emerging leadership in homeland security.

When discussing issues at the U.S./Mexico border, Bersin declared that the border issues are really a “migration management problem.” Bersin continued to explain that migrants who are coming to the border from their country “are not trying to avoid border patrol agents. They’re trying to find them to start the asylum process.” 

That asylum process includes a “credible fear test,” which Bersin describes as “a very low threshold test as to whether or not there’s a credible fear of persecution.”

Tien, who, earlier in his career, served on active duty in the Army for 25 years, also identified the complexities of the migrant management situation at the border. “We will not detain our way through this. We must have a multi-pronged approach.” He also recommended that the United States change the asylum laws. 

When the conversation landed on cybersecurity, Grey, who held positions in the U.S. Secret Service under the Obama and George W. Bush administrations, shared her vast experience. She spent her early post-government career in the private sector working for Facebook and Uber when those companies were just starting out.

Today, she helms the security operations for Epic Games, the interactive gaming company that created Fortnite. Gray manages the company’s online threats, within the metaverse.

The metaverse, as she described, is a very “complex environment … and there’s a huge conflict between keeping people safe and not having them feel that they are being monitored.” This virtual world is a hard world to control because, as Gray said, “lawmakers can’t regulate what they do not understand.”

One of the problems Gray faces in the private sector is maintaining a balance between a company’s rapid growth, and the overall health and safety of both the company and the customers. Gray mentioned that a solution to balance profit and public safety is to form public/private partnerships, where stakeholders from both sectors collaborate and provide valuable input on how to succeed safely and efficiently.

Initiating collaborative efforts, Torrence has a track record of 10 years of experience in forming partnerships with various emergency management agencies. He started his career as a Fire Prevention Specialist with the Rancho Cucamonga Fire District. From wildfires and tsunamis, to protests, collapsing infrastructure, and the COVID-19 pandemic, he has handled it all with grace. 

Torrence spoke on the importance of communication and the effectiveness of a diverse workforce representing the community it serves. His presentation, “Adapting to Intergenerational Challenges: Millennials, Gen-Z, Gen Alpha and Your Agency,” shed light on the fact that leaders must rely on the diversity within their organizations to best serve members of a diverse public.

On the theme of intergenerational challenges and wisdom, Bersin, 77, proclaimed that he still has mentors. “The mentors I have now are 27, 28 years old.”

During this time of transition in the workplace from Boomers to Millennials and Gen-Z, Bersin said he champions younger professionals and learns from them every day.

“Some of those younger people on your staff, keep them close as mentors, because they are closer to where the world is. Mentorship is critical” to overcome the challenges and complexities of a world on fire.

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