NATIONAL SECURITY DIVISION
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The National Security Division (NSD) was created in March 2006 by the USA PATRIOT
Reauthorization and Improvement Act (Pub. L. No. 109-177). The creation
of the NSD consolidated the Justice Department’s primary national security
operations: the former Office of Intelligence Policy and Review and the
Counterterrorism and Counterespionage Sections of the Criminal Division. The
new Office of Law and Policy and the Executive Office, as well as the Office
of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism (which previously operated out
of the Criminal Division, complete the NSD) complete the NSD. The NSD
commenced operations in September 2006 upon the swearing in of the first Assistant
Attorney General for National Security.
The mission of the National Security Division is to carry out the Department’s
highest priority: to combat terrorism and other threats to national security. The
NSD’s organizational structure is designed to ensure greater coordination
and unity of purpose between prosecutors and law enforcement agencies, on the
one hand, and intelligence attorneys and the Intelligence Community, on the
other, thus strengthening the effectiveness of the federal government’s
national security efforts.
The National Security Division is led by an Assistant Attorney General who
is supported by three Deputy Assistant Attorneys General who oversee the Division’s
components.
The National Security Division’s major responsibilities include:
Intelligence Operations and Coordination:
- Provide legal representation and counsel to agencies within the Intelligence
Community to ensure that they have the legal tools necessary to conduct
intelligence operations;
- Represent the United States before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Court (FISC) to obtain authorization under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act (FISA) for the United States government to conduct intelligence collection
activities, such as electronic surveillance and physical searches;
- Coordinate and supervise intelligence-related litigation matters, including
evaluating and reviewing requests to use information collected under FISA
in criminal and non-criminal proceedings and to disseminate FISA information;
and
- Serve, through the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, as
the Department’s primary liaison to the Director of National Intelligence.
Counterterrorism:
- Promote and oversee a coordinated national counterterrorism enforcement
program, through close collaboration with Department leadership, the National
Security Branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Intelligence
Community, and the 93 United States Attorneys’ Offices;
- Oversee and support the Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council (ATAC) program
by collaborating with prosecutors nationwide on terrorism matters, cases,
and threat information; by maintaining an essential communication network
between the Department and United States Attorneys’ Offices for the
rapid transmission of information on terrorism threats and investigative
activity; and by managing and supporting ATAC activities and initiatives;
- Consult, advise, and collaborate with prosecutors nationwide on international
and domestic terrorism investigations, prosecutions, and appeals, including
the use of classified evidence through the application of the Classified
Information Procedures Act (CIPA);
- Share information with and provide advice to international prosecutors,
agents, and investigating magistrates to assist in addressing international
threat information and litigation initiatives; and
- Develop training for prosecutors and investigators on cutting-edge tactics,
substantive law, and relevant policies and procedures.
Counterespionage:
- Supervise the investigation and prosecution of cases involving espionage
and related statutes;
- Support and oversee the expansion of investigations and prosecutions into
the unlawful export of military and strategic commodities and technology
by assisting and providing guidance to United States Attorneys’ Offices
in the establishment of Export Control Proliferation Task Forces;
- Coordinate and provide advice in connection with cases involving the unauthorized
disclosure of classified information and support resulting prosecutions
by providing advice and assistance with the application of CIPA; and
- Enforce the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA) and related
disclosure statutes.
Oversight:
- Oversee foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security
activities to ensure compliance with the Constitution, statutes, and Executive
Branch policies to protect individual privacy and civil liberties; and
- Monitor the intelligence and counterintelligence activities of the FBI
to ensure conformity with applicable laws and regulations, FISC orders,
and Department procedures, including the foreign intelligence and national
security investigation provisions of the Attorney General’s Guidelines
for Domestic FBI Operations.
Law and Policy:
- Oversee the development, coordination, and implementation, in conjunction
with other components of the Department as appropriate, of legislation and
policies concerning intelligence, counterintelligence, counterterrorism,
and national security matters;
- Provide legal assistance and advice, in coordination with the Department’s
Office of Legal Counsel as appropriate, to the Division, other components
of the Department, the Attorney General, the White House, and Government
agencies on matters of national security law and policy;
- Perform prepublication classification review of materials proposed to be
published by present and former Department employees;
- Produce guidance on the interpretation and application of new terrorism
statutes, regulations, and policies; and
- Serve as the Department’s representative on interdepartmental boards,
committees, and other groups dealing with issues related to national security.
Foreign Investment:
- Perform the Department’s staff-level work on the Committee on Foreign
Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which reviews foreign acquisitions
of domestic entities that might affect national security and makes recommendations
to the President on whether such transactions should be allowed to proceed,
or if they have already occurred, should be undone;
- Track and monitor certain transactions that have been approved, including
those subject to mitigation agreements, and identify unreported transactions
that might merit CFIUS review;
- Respond to Federal Communication Commission (FCC) requests for the Department’s
views relating to the national security implications of certain transactions
relating to FCC licenses; and
- Track and monitor certain transactions that have been approved, including
those subject to mitigation agreements filed with the FCC.
Victims of Terrorism:
- Establish and maintain the Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism
as required by Section 126 of the Department of Justice Appropriations
Act of 2005 to ensure that the investigation and prosecution of terrorist
attacks that result in the deaths and/or injuries of American citizens overseas
remains a high priority within the Department; and
- Ensure that the rights of victims and their families are honored and respected,
and that victims and their families are support and informed during the
criminal justice process.
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