Deputy Attorney General: James B. Comey

James B. Comey was the 31st Deputy Attorney General of the United States. He served as the Department’s second-ranking official from December 2003 to August 2005.

Mr. Comey was U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from January 2002 to the time of his confirmation as Deputy Attorney General. As U.S. Attorney, he oversaw several terrorism cases and supervised prosecutions of executives of WorldCom, Adelphia, and Imclone on fraud and securities-related charges. He also created a specialized unit dedicated to prosecuting international drug cartels.

From 1996 through 2001, Mr. Comey served as Managing Assistant U.S. Attorney in charge of the Richmond Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. While in Richmond, he directed the Khobar Towers terrorist attack case, arising out of the June 1996 attack on a U.S. military facility in Saudi Arabia in which 19 American servicemen were killed.

Mr. Comey served as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division in U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York from 1987 to 1993. While there, he served as lead prosecutor in United States v. John Gambino et al.

A native of Yonkers, New York, Mr. Comey was educated at the College of William & Mary (B.S. with Honors, 1982) and the University of Chicago Law School (J.D., 1985). Upon graduating from law school, he served as a law clerk for then-United States District Judge John M. Walker Jr. in Manhattan, and later worked for Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in its New York office.