John Carlin

John P. Carlin served as Acting Deputy Attorney General of the United States from January to April 2021. The Acting Deputy Attorney General advises and assists the Attorney General in formulating and implementing Departmental policies and programs and in providing overall supervision and direction to all organizational units of the Department.  He previously served as the Department of Justice’s Assistant Attorney General for National Security.  As AAG, Carlin oversaw nearly 400 employees responsible for protecting the country against international and domestic terrorism, espionage, cyber, and other national security threats. 

Mr. Carlin joined NSD after serving as Chief of Staff and Senior Counsel to the Director of the FBI, where he helped lead the Bureau’s evolution to meet growing and changing national security threats, including cyber threats.  A career federal prosecutor, Mr. Carlin previously served as National Coordinator of DOJ’s Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) program and as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) for the District of Columbia, where he prosecuted cases ranging from homicide and sexual offenses to cyber, fraud, and public corruption matters.

From 2017 until 2021, Carlin was at a private law firm.

Carlin, who joined DOJ through the Attorney General’s Honors Program, earned his Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School, where he received the Samuel J. Heyman Fellowship for Federal Government Service and served as Articles editor for the Harvard Journal on Legislation.  Mr. Carlin earned his Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from Williams College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.