WASHINGTON — Kenneth L. Wainstein was sworn in today as the first Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division. He will oversee the creation of the new division and act as the Department’s main liaison with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, and other intelligence community agencies in order to improve coordination against terrorism and other threats to national security.
The National Security Division fulfils a key recommendation of the March 31, 2005, report of the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD Commission).
The new Division will consolidate the resources of the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review and the Criminal Division’s Counterterrorism and Counterespionage Sections in order to strengthen the Department’s core national security functions. These organizational changes reinforce the Department’s efforts to prevent terrorism and other threats to national security.
Two Deputy Assistant Attorneys General and an Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General were named today to oversee the work of the division's three branches: one for Counterterrorism and Counterespionage; one for Law and Policy; and one for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Operations and Intelligence Oversight.
*A Deputy Assistant Attorney will oversee the Counterterrorism and Counterespionage sections. These sections will assist in preventing and disrupting acts of terrorism through investigation and prosecution.
*A Deputy Assistant Attorney General will head the Law and Policy section. This section will be responsible for providing legal assistance on matters of national security law and policy, and for formulating legislative initiatives, policies, and strategies relating to national security matters.
*A Deputy Assistant Attorney General will oversee the FISA Operations and Intelligence Oversight sections. These sections will prepare and file all applications for electronic surveillance and physical search under FISA and oversee the Department’s foreign intelligence/counterintelligence investigations.
Initially, the majority of affected Department of Justice employees will remain in their present locations, but additional secure work space is being constructed in the Robert F. Kennedy (Main Justice) Building. The Division will initially encompass approximately 225 employees. The FY 2007 President’s budget requests $66.9 million to fund the new division in its first year.
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