Professor Jennifer Daskal Named Deputy General Counsel at DHS
Feb. 11, 2021
Professor Jennifer Daskal, faculty director of the American University Washington College of Law Tech, Law and Security Program (TLS), has been named Deputy General Counsel (Cyber and Technology) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Daskal will be taking a two-year leave from AUWCL to join DHS and the Biden Administration.
"Although we hate to lose her for the next two years, we are thrilled that Jen has been appointed to this critical position at DHS," said Acting Dean Robert Dinerstein. "Her recognized expertise in national security and technology law will be an outstanding addition to the new administration."
Daskal is a globally recognized expert in cyber policy and national security. She has been actively involved in discussions around law enforcement access to data across borders, helping to shape the domestic and international debate, and is now bringing those efforts to bear with respect to efforts to regulate hateful speech online. Daskal has testified in Congress multiple times, speaks at global conferences on cyber and tech policy, published numerous op-eds in places like the New York Times and Washington Post, and been a commentator in multiple press outlets. Her work has been published in the top law journals, including Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review Online, and Harvard Journal of National Security and the Law. View Professor Daskal’s publications.
From 2009-2011, Daskal was counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the Department of Justice. Prior to joining DOJ, Daskal was senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch, worked as a staff attorney for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, and clerked for the Honorable Jed S. Rakoff. After graduating from Brown University, Daskal was a Marshall Scholar at Cambridge University, before attending Harvard Law School.
During Daskal’s two-year leave of absence from the law school, the Tech, Law and Security Program will proceed with its important work under Program Director Gary Corn. Corn has served as program director since the program’s inception, coming to AUWCL after having served as a U.S. Army Colonel and Staff Judge Advocate (General Counsel) to U.S. Cyber Command. TLS was officially launched in February 2020.
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