Justice Department Announces WarCAT Leadership Transition

Today, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced a transition in the leadership of the Justice Department’s War Crimes Accountability Team (WarCAT). 

Last year, while in Ukraine, Attorney General Garland announced the launch of WarCAT to centralize and strengthen the Justice Department’s ongoing work to hold accountable those who have committed war crimes and other atrocities during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At that time, he selected Eli Rosenbaum to serve as Counselor for War Crimes Accountability. Effective January 2024, Rosenbaum, the longest-serving American prosecutor of Nazi war criminals and other human rights violators in history, will retire after a 38-year career at the Justice Department. Attorney General Garland has selected WarCAT Lead Prosecutor Christian Levesque to serve as the Director of WarCAT. Today’s announcement also follows the Justice Department’s unsealing of war crimes charges in connection with Russia’s unlawful and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

“A year and a half ago, I asked Eli Rosenbaum to lead a team of Justice Department prosecutors working to identify and prosecute individuals involved in war crimes and atrocities committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” said Attorney General Garland. “I am deeply grateful to Eli for postponing his retirement to stand up and lead that team, and for his decades of service to our country and to the cause of justice. Recently, the Justice Department filed the first-ever charges under the U.S. war crimes statute against four Russia-affiliated military personnel for heinous crimes against an American citizen. I have full confidence that WarCAT’s new Director, Christian Levesque, will continue to build on that work. I look forward to her leadership of our efforts to pursue accountability for Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine.”

As WarCAT Director, Levesque will lead the Department’s efforts to coordinate with experts on investigations and prosecutions involving human rights abuses, war crimes, and other atrocities occurring in Ukraine to centralize and strengthen the Department’s ongoing accountability efforts, and to assist authorities in Ukraine and elsewhere investigating such crimes. The team will continue to be responsible for providing wide-ranging assistance, including operational assistance, victim-witness support, and relevant legal analysis including regarding environmental damage. As Lead Prosecutor, Levesque has been integral to WarCAT over the past year, and her experience and expertise will ensure the continued success of this initiative. Levesque joined the Human Rights and Special Prosecution Section in 2016, after a career as an international human rights attorney in private practice.   

In the 16 months since Attorney General Garland launched WarCAT, the team has brought together the Department’s leading experts on investigations and prosecutions involving human rights abuses, war crimes, and other atrocities to centralize and strengthen the Department’s ongoing accountability efforts, and to assist authorities in Ukraine and elsewhere investigating such crimes.