Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed seven U.S. Attorneys to serve on
the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC) to fill the vacancies of U.S.
Attorneys who have completed their terms and are rotating off. In his
announcement of the selections in October, the Attorney General also advised
that he has selected Gary Restaino, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, to
serve as the committee’s vice-chair, replacing Cindy Chung, the former U.S.
Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania who is now a judge on the Third
Circuit Court of Appeals. U.S. Attorney Damian Wiliams, for the Southern District
of New York, remains the AGAC Chair.
The newest members of the AGAC are U.S. Attorneys Alexander M.M. Uballez for
the District of New Mexico, Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York,
Kenneth Parker for the Southern District of Ohio, Natalie K. Wight for the District
of Oregon, Eric G. Olshan for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Alamdar
Hamdani for the Southern District of Texas, and Christopher R. Kavanaugh for the
Western District of Virginia.
The following U.S. Attorneys rotated off the AGAC: Cole Finegan for the District of
Colorado, Brandon Brown for Western District of Louisiana, Dawn Ison for the
Eastern District of Michigan, Trini Ross for the Western District of New York, and
Sandra Hairston for the Middle District of North Carolina.
The AGAC was created in 1973 and advises the Attorney General on matters of
policy, procedure, and management impacting the Offices of the U.S. Attorneys
and elevates the voices of U.S. Attorneys in Department of Justice policies.
The current NAFUSA officers and directors met in Washington, D.C. on September
6-7, for their semi-annual Board of Directors meeting. The event was hosted by
King & Spalding, of which NAFUSA President John Richter is a partner, at their
impressive offices on Pennsylvania Avenue. Sixteen directors and staff attended in
person and were treated to amazing views of the Washington Monument from
the penthouse conference room, while several members took advantage of video
conferencing to participate.
The financial report presented by the Executive Director included a summary of
the success of the NAFUSA 2023 conference in Half Moon Bay, California, (HMB)
last April. There were just under 240 registered attendees at the HMB conference,
a record attendance. There was also a record amount of sponsorship money
donated with 30 sponsors contributing a total of $262,500, including a very
generous donation from Guidepost Solutions for the Wednesday night reception.
The feedback about the conference, the programming and the beautiful location
was overwhelmingly positive.
There was considerable discussion of ways to increase NAFUSA membership, both
by recruiting new members from the current administration as they leave office
and by identifying former United States Attorneys who might be receptive to
learning about the many advantages of NAFUSA membership. One of those
advantages is, of course, ability to attend NAFUSA’s annual conferences. In
fact, planning is well underway for the next conference to be held in Oklahoma
City on September 25-27, 2024. As previously reported, the conference will be
held in a Marriott Autograph Collection hotel – the National – which is listed on
the National Register of Historic Places. NAFUSA will have the entire hotel for its
conference! A conference committee was formed at the board meeting, and ideas
and suggestions are always welcome.
At the conclusion of the business portion of the meeting, FBI Director, and lifetime
NAFUSA member, Chris Wray joined the group for informal remarks and a lively
question-and-answer session. After joking that it was a pleasure to be invited to
speak to a friendly audience, Director Wray spoke for several minutes about the
challenges facing the men and women of the FBI, as well as the often-under-reported successes that have been achieved. He also talked about FBI successes in
identifying and preventing domestic terrorism, and on the importance and
difficulty in detecting and preventing international cyber-attacks. The FBI has been
increasing its ranks of technology and cyber experts to address this threat.
Director Wray concluded by describing positive developments regarding FISA and
how crucial the information is to counterterrorism efforts. He praised the internal
audit improvements the Bureau has made and added that the FBI is seeing
positive improvement in reporting by state and locals.
Following Director Wray, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram addressed the board
through video conferencing. Her remarks followed up on her presentation at the HMB
conference with the latest developments on the fentanyl epidemic and DEA’s
efforts to stem the alarming tide of fentanyl distribution and related deaths.
Among other efforts, she described new initiatives focused on two cartels who are
laundering money for Chinese fentanyl manufacturers impacted by the limits
placed by the Chinese government on cash leaving China. DEA has set up illicit
financing teams including IRS agents to target this activity. Administrator
described the integration of the Dept of Treasury into the money laundering focus
against fentanyl distribution as a “game changer.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland invited the NAFUSA officers and directors, who
were in Washington, D.C. for the fall board of directors meeting, to the
Department of Justice to meet with him and members of his staff. The AG hosted
the group in his conference room on Wednesday, September 6, preceding the
board meeting on Thursday.
The AG and members of his staff graciously took time to speak individually with
each of the fourteen NAFUSA members and staff present, several of whom were
familiar with AG Garland and/or had worked with him in the past. Later he
addressed the group with brief remarks, giving a nod to the dedicated employees
of the Department of Justice and their commitment to the rule of law during
challenging times. He was complimentary of NAFUSA and the opportunity it
provides for interaction with USAs from different administrations and districts. The
Attorney General also expressed a strong desire to have other opportunities to
engage with NAFUSA members.
Sadly, NAFUSA has lost another of its former members. Emily Sweeney, who
served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio from 1993
to 2003, passed away on July 31, 2023.
Emily had a full and distinguished career with the Department of Justice. She
began as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the civil division of the U.S. Attorneys Office
in the Northern District of Ohio after graduating from the Marshall College of Law
in Cleveland. She became the first Asset Forfeiture Chief in that district and also
served as the Appellate Chief. She was appointed by President Bill Clinton, Senate
confirmed and sworn in as U.S. Attorney in 1993.
During her tenure as U.S. Attorney, Emily served as the head of the Management
and Budget Subcommittee of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC).
During her time as chair of that committee, she was proud of being able to help
secure more positions for U.S. Attorney Offices across the country, including her
own, as the need for additional resources grew.
Emily especially enjoyed the management aspects of being U.S. Attorney. She
loved and trusted the people in her office and earned their loyalty and respect.
She worked hard to get them the resources they needed, and, for nearly 20 years,
she regularly lunched with her office family. She was a great boss.
She is survived by her daughter, Margaret, who is an AUSA in the office her
mother once headed, and two much beloved grandchildren, Elliott and Penny.
As is custom, a flag was flown over the Department of Justice in her honor, boxed
with a plaque by NAFUSA, and presented to her daughter. Expressions of
condolence can be sent to Margaret and her family at 373 Belmar Blvd., Avon
Lake, Ohio 44012.
Former U.S. Attorney General, and NAFUSA member, Loretta Lynch will lead an
independent review of Northwestern University’s athletic department processes
and culture. Ms. Lynch, who is currently with the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind,
Wharton & Garrison, will lead the review of the university’s accountability
mechanisms in place to detect, report and respond to potential misconduct in its
athletic department, including hazing, bullying and discrimination. The review will
include feedback from faculty, staff, students and alumni and the results will be
made public, according to Northwestern.
The University has faced criticism over alleged hazing within the football program,
including claims of sexual abuse. Several former players filed lawsuits accusing the
school of negligence. Longtime Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald was
fired three weeks before former Attorney General Lynch was enlisted to lead the
independent review.
Ms. Lynch was appointed as U.S. Attorney General by former President Barack
Obama in 2015 and served until 2017. Prior to that she served as U.S. Attorney for
the Eastern District of New York from 1999 to 2001 under former President Bill
Clinton and from 2010 to 2015 under former President Obama.
Monty Wilkinson, most recently Director of the Executive Office for United States
Attorneys (EOUSA), retired on June 30, 2023, after serving most of his career with
the Department of Justice. Mr. Wilkinson, who had previously served as Director
of EOUSA from 2014-2017, and prior to that as its Principal Deputy Director and
Chief of Staff, was reappointed EOUSA Director by Attorney General Merrick
Garland on March 14, 2021. EOUSA provides executive and administrative support
for the 93 United States Attorneys.
After graduating from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1988, Mr.
Wilkinson served as a law clerk to Eric Holder, then a judge of the Superior Court
of the District of Columbia. He began his career with the Department of Justice in
1990 as a trial attorney in the Criminal Division. He went on to work as Special
Counsel and Spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and
continued to serve in senior management positions in that office before becoming
an Associate Deputy Attorney General in 1997. During his career with the DOJ, he
served as Counselor and Deputy Chief of Staff to the Attorney General, as the
Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Human Resources and Administration, as
well as the Acting Attorney General from January 20, 2021 until March 11, 2021,
when Attorney General Garland was sworn in.
Former Director Wilkinson’s friends, including his many friends in NAFUSA, expect
him to spend time with family, travel and play a lot of golf!
Marti Robinson found the attached picture in her husband Jim’s papers and sent it
and the accompanying memo to former NAFUSA Executive Director Rich Rossman.
As many of you remember, former NAFUSA President Jim Robinson died 13 years
ago on August 6, 2010. A Michigan native, he went on to become, among other
prestigious positions, Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division from
1998 to 2001.
Although the actual date of the picture is unknown, it is believed to be from an
early NAFUSA conference. (Do you know?) The accompanying cover note to Bill
Gray’s son, Joshua, identifies some of those pictured, including long time NAFUSA
member Attorney General Thornburg and the Robinsons, among others. Bill Gray,
U.S. Attorney for Vermont from 1975-1977 under President Carter, was an early
NAFUSA president.
Many thanks to Marti Robinson and Rich Rossman for sharing this piece of
NAFUSA history.
If you have any early (earlier) photos from NAFUSA gatherings, please consider sharing them with us.
For the first time since 2012, the Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) has a
Senate-confirmed Director. The Senate confirmed Rosie Hidalgo on July 11, 2023,
in a bipartisan vote. As Director, she will lead the Department’s principal efforts in
confronting gender-based crimes. Prior to this appointment, Hidalgo served as a
special assistant to President Biden and senior advisor on gender-based violence
at the White House Gender Policy Council. She previously held a position at OVW
as Deputy Director of Policy from 2014-2017 and is also a former director of public
policy for Casa de Esperanza: National Latin@ Network for Healthy Families and
Communities, a national resource center focused on providing training, research,
and policy advocacy to prevent and end domestic violence and sexual assault.
OVW provides federal leadership to reduce violence against women and
administer justice for and strengthen services to survivors of domestic violence,
dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. It oversees more than $700 million
annually for grant programs authorized under the Violence Against Women Act
(VAWA).
The NAFUSA Foundation board has elected Paul Coggins as the next president. Coggins was the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas from 1993 to 2001. During his time as U.S. Attorney, he served twice on the Attorney General’s Advisory Council and in 1998 as its vice chair. He was elected president of NAFUSA in 2019. He is currently the co-head of the White Collar and Government Investigations group at Locke Lord. Coggins, a graduate of Yale University, Harvard Law School, and Oxford University, is a published author, currently at work on his Cash McCahill series of mysteries. Most recently, he was invited to speak at Oxford University on balancing careers in law and writing.
The NAFUSA Board recently designated Coggins and Bill Lutz as directors of the NAFUSA Foundation. They join ex-officio members Chuck Stevens, John Richter and Donna Bucella as directors on the foundation board.
Coggins praised the work of former foundation president, Ed Dowd, and called him a hard act to follow. Dowd served as the foundation president since 2019. Under Dowd’s leadership, the foundation awarded scholarships to unpaid law student interns who have performed outstanding work while interning at U.S. Attorney’s Offices and in the Department of Justice.
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