John Carlin, chair of the Aspen Institute's Cybersecurity & Technology Program, recently left the Obama administration after serving as Assistant Attorney General for National Security, the Department of Justice's top national security attorney. In this Senate-confirmed position, Carlin oversaw nearly 400 employees responsible for protecting the country against international and domestic terrorism, espionage, cyber and other national security threats.
The Justice Department's National Security Division — working closely with the White House, the intelligence community and prosecutors around the country — has helped to put together many of the most important cyber indictments and cases against hackers of the last eight years, ranging from the indictment of five Chinese military hackers for cyber-espionage to the case against Iranian hackers who attacked a New York hydroelectric dam, as well as being integral to cases like the hacking of Sony Pictures and the recent Russian attacks on the DNC and Hillary Clinton's campaign.
A career federal prosecutor and graduate of Harvard Law School, Carlin has spent much of the last decade working at the center of the nation's response to the rise of terrorism and cyberthreats, including serving as national coordinator of the Justice Department's Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) program, as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and as chief of staff to then–FBI Director Robert Mueller.
Today, Carlin is also the global chair of the risk- and crisis-management practice for the law firm Morrison & Foerster and is a sought-after industry speaker on cyber issues as well as a CNBC contributor on national security issues. A frequent commentator, he also has appeared on shows like Charlie Rose
