Mary DeRosa

Education and Legal Career

DeRosa attended the University of Virginia, receiving a BA with honors in 1981. She then attended George Washington University Law School, receiving a JD with honors in 1984. At GWU, she was a Notes Editor on The George Washington Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. After law school, DeRosa spent a year as a clerk for Richard J. Cardamone, a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She spent the next six years as an associate with the law firm Arnold & Porter.

Clinton Administration

From 1995 to 1997, DeRosa served as a Special Counsel to the General Counsel of the Department of Defense (then Judith A. Miller). She focused on the Defense Department's investigative capabilities. In 1997, she moved to the United States National Security Council, serving as a Deputy Legal Adviser until 2000 when she was promoted to Legal Adviser. She served in this position until the end of President Bill Clinton's term.

Bush Administration

In 2002, DeRosa joined the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a prominent foreign policy think tank in Washington, DC, as a Senior Fellow in the Technology and Public Policy Program. She also served as Chief Counsel for National Security to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary under Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy.

Obama Administration

In 2009, with the election of another Democratic President, DeRosa returned to the White House, this time as Deputy Counsel to the President for National Security Affairs and Legal Adviser to the National Security Council. She had previously served on the Obama-Biden transition team. DeRosa served in this position until 2011, when she left to become Alternate Representative of the United States at the Sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly. After the end of the session, DeRosa returned to Washington, DC as a Distinguished Visitor from Practice at the Georgetown University Law Center.