Paul Rosen, a former federal prosecutor and chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, is a partner in the firm’s White Collar & Regulatory Enforcement, Privacy & Cybersecurity, and Government Contracts groups. Paul is also chair of
Crowell & Moring's National Security practice. The
Daily Journal recently named Paul to its 2020 list of “Top White Collar Lawyers,” which recognizes a small group of leading white collar lawyers in California.
With more than a decade of legal, policy, and management experience across all three branches of government, Paul represents corporate and individual clients in federal and state criminal and civil government investigations and enforcement actions, internal investigations, cybersecurity and data privacy, trade and cross border issues including sanctions, national and homeland security, and litigation matters. Paul also advises clients on all aspects of crisis management, from responding to subpoenas and search warrants to cyber-attacks and Congressional inquiries.
Prior to joining Crowell & Moring, Paul served in several senior leadership roles within the DHS, including most recently as chief of staff. In this role, Paul managed for the secretary the operational, organizational, policy, and legal needs for the third-largest department of government, with 230,000 employees, a $60 billion budget, and 22 component agencies. Among the agencies he oversaw included the National Protection and Programs Directorate (now the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA), Customs and Border Protection, Secret Service, Transportation Security Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and U.S. Coast Guard, among others.
Paul supervised DHS’s response to some of the most sensitive and complex challenges facing the government, including civil and criminal investigations and litigation, regulatory matters, Congressional oversight, public relations, and crisis management. He advised the secretary and the White House on counterterrorism; cyber, data security, and incident response; border, aviation, and maritime security; trade and customs violations; immigration; nuclear weapons detection; national security risks associated with foreign investments in connection with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS; federal disaster response; critical infrastructure; financial crimes; and other criminal law enforcement and homeland security matters.
In recognition of his work, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson awarded Paul the DHS Distinguished Service Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the secretary to recognize exceptional and transformational public service. He is also a recipient of the Director’s Distinguished Service Award from the Secret Service.
Paul also served as deputy chief of staff and senior counselor to the secretary, and chief of staff at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In these roles Paul worked extensively with other federal agencies, including the Departments of Justice, Treasury, and Defense, the FBI, and intelligence community on some of the most highly publicized global security and terrorist threats.
In addition to his work at DHS, Paul served for more than four years at the U.S. Department of Justice, including as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and in the Department of Justice Criminal Fraud Section. He prosecuted financial crimes, including securities fraud, bank and mortgage fraud, FCPA, money laundering, insider trading, corruption, bankruptcy fraud, and government and procurement fraud. In recognition of his work as a prosecutor, in 2012 the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency recognized Paul with its Investigations Award for Excellence.
From 2006 to 2009, Paul served as counsel to then-U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden, conducting oversight investigations and advising on civil and criminal law policies and legislation confronting the Senate Judiciary Committee, including intellectual property rights, antitrust and bankruptcy law, narcotics and firearms laws and the federal sentencing guidelines. He also served as Staff Director to the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control. Prior to that, Paul was a law clerk to the Honorable Gary Allen Feess, U.S. District Judge for the Central District of California.
Paul is a Board Member at Bet Tzedek Legal Services and the Pacific Council on International Policy. Paul has served as guest lecturer and speaker at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and at the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law and undergraduate college, and from 2017 to 2019 Paul also served as a Homeland Security Project fellow at Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.