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Formed March 9, 2005 (2005-03-09) Headquarters Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building950 Pennsylvania Avenue NWWashington, D.C., United States Parent Division | ||
The United States Department of Justice National Security Division (NSD) is the division of the DOJ that handles all national security functions of the Department. Created by the 2005 USA PATRIOT Act reauthorization, the Division consolidated all of the Department's national security and intelligence functions into a single Division. The Division is headed by the Assistant Attorney General for National Security.
Contents
History
The National Security Division was created under Section 506 of the 2005 USA PATRIOT Act reauthorization, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush on March 9, 2006.
It consolidated the Department's national security efforts within one unit, bring together attorneys from the Counterterrorism Section and Counterespionage Section of the Criminal Division and from the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR), with their specialized expertise in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and other intelligence matters. This fulfilled a recommendation of the Iraq Intelligence Commission (Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction).
In 2010, its budget was $88 million.
Leadership
The head of the National Security Division is an Assistant Attorney General for National Security (AAG-NS) appointed by the President of the United States. The current AAG-NS is John P. Carlin, who was appointed by President Barack Obama on January 2014.
Organization
The National Security Division is overseen by Assistant Attorney General John P. Carlin. The Assistant Attorney General is assisted by three Deputy Assistant Attorneys General, who are all career attorneys, who each oversee a different branch of the Division's sections.