Us Department Of Justice Official Release - 03295-564 Txt

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1994

DAG (202) 616-2777 TDD (202) 514-1888

NEW EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANNOUNCED WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Justice Department today announced the establishment of the Executive Office for National Security within the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. The Executive Office will be headed by Mark Steinberg, most recently the Counselor on International Law to the Legal Adviser of the State Department. The Executive Office will coordinate activities of the Justice Department involving national security issues, and act as a forum for developing national security policy. It will also serve as a primary focal point for contacts between the Justice Department and other agencies on national security matters. The Office will have a permanent staff of five professionals. Michael Vatis, currently Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General, will be Deputy Director. Drew Arena, who has been Director of the Justice Department's Office of International Programs, will join the Executive Office as Counsel for International Programs. Arena will continue to be responsible for preparing top officials of the Department for meetings with their foreign counterparts. The Director of the Executive Office will chair regular meetings of an Executive Committee whose membership includes representatives of each of the Justice Department components with significant national security involvement. These meetings will identify and recommend action on national security issues of immediate and long-term concern to the Department, and serve as a point of information exchange. Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick said she is giving the Executive Office full support and authority in matters of national security. Opting for a "lean and mean" staffing, she said she prefers relying on "a few quality people who will work hard to get the job done." Steinberg was a litigation partner at the Los Angeles law firm of O'Melveny and Myers prior to joining the State Department in August 1993. Secretary of State Warren Christopher praised the formation of the Executive Office for National Security as "a creative response to the challenges posed by the growing internationalization of crime." "I applaud the wisdom of creating the Office and of naming Mark Steinberg as its Director," said Christopher. "He is a talented lawyer who contributed significantly at the State Department and is a strong choice for the new post." Deputy Director Michael Vatis is a former law clerk to Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Thurgood Marshall. Vatis was an attorney at Mayer, Brown and Platt in Washington, D.C. and served as Special Counsel to Deputy Attorney General Gorelick when she was General Counsel at the Department of Defense. ##### 94-564