Alumnus Jeh C. Johnson '82 Nominated to Lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

New York, October 18, 2013—Columbia Law School alumnus Jeh C. Johnson ’82 has been nominated to serve as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, announced President Obama today. His nomination requires Senate confirmation.

 

Johnson served as general counsel of the U.S. Department of Defense until the end of 2012, overseeing the legal work of more than 10,000 lawyers in the country's oldest and largest government agency.

 

In 2012, Johnson returned to private practice at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison as a partner specializing in litigation, white-collar crime and regulatory defense, internal investigations, securities litigation, and professional liability, based in Washington, D.C.

 

Johnson served as general counsel of the Department of the Air Force in 1998. His career as a trial attorney began when he was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

 

In 2012, Johnson was awarded the Columbia Law School Medal for Excellence, and in 2009, he received the Law School’s Lawrence A. Wien Prize for Social Responsibility. Johnson served as a lecturer in trial practice from 1995 to 1997.