Author Archives: Lisa

Santa Fe Photo Essay

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Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, former United States Attorney for the District of Arizona, was the keynote speaker at Saturday’s closing banquet.

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano with appointees from the Clinton Adminstration

The Thursday evening cocktail reception was held at the Palace of the Governors on Santa Fe Plaza.

Rick Deane and Bill Lutz at the Palace of Governors

The Friday morning panel discussion on Southwest Border issues featured high ranking officials from the governments of Mexico and the United States.

Gustavo Mohar and David Aguilar

The Saturday panel on WikiLeaks included former government officials, members of the press and a former undercover CIA agent.

Jack Goldsmith, Ken Wainstein, Eric Snyder, Charlie Savage, Valerie Plame Wilson, Rich Rossman

Bradford Award winner Ken Sorenson brought his family with him from Hawaii.

Jay Stephens presents award to Ken Sorenson, while Ken's family looks on

It was a beautiful evening in Santa Fe for the cocktail reception prior to the concluding banquet.

A large contingent of former United States Attorneys from Texas attended the conference.

Appointees of President George W. Bush were, once again, well represented.

The officers of NAFUSA posed for a final photo.

Rich Rossman, Matt Orwig, Jay Stephens, Rick Deane, Bill Lutz, Don Stern, Ron Woods

NAFUSA Concludes Successful Santa Fe Conference

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This year’s conference in Santa Fe turned out to be one of the most successful in NAFUSA’s 32 years. With 100 members present and a total attendance including guests and speakers of 186, the turnout matched prior conferences in New York and Washington, historically the most popular sites.

Hosts President Bill Lutz and his wife, Jeanne, drew raves for the beautiful venue and the outstanding social events — the cocktail reception at the Palace of the Governors on the Santa Fe Plaza and the luncheon at the Governor’s Mansion.

Highlights included the keynote address from Secretary Janet Napolitano of the Department of Homeland Security. She was among friends, having served as United States Attorney in the District of Arizona. The conference also featured two outstanding panel discussions. The Friday panel “Southwest Border Issues” included an appearance by Gustavo Mohar, General Secretary of the Center for Investigation and National Security (CISEN), second in command for Mexico’s agency comparable to a combined FBI and CIA, and David Aguilar, the Deputy Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The panel was joined by Larry Villalobos, Section Chief of the Research and Analysis Section of the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC) and Ken Gonzales, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico and moderated by Charlie Savage of The New York Times.

Saturday’s panel on WikiLeaks featured Charlie Savage, Professor Jack Goldsmith of Harvard Law School, Ken Wainstein of O’Melveny & Myers, Valerie Plame Wilson, a former covert CIA operations officer, and Eric Snyder of Kobre & Kim. Rich Rossman, the new NAFUSA Executive Director, moderated the panel.

This year’s J. Michael Bradford Award winner was Ken Sorenson, a 25 year veteran Assistant United States Attorney from the District of Hawaii, who recently prosecuted a high profile espionage case involving the illegal disclosure of classified information on the B-2 bomber. The Bradford Award is given annually to NAFUSA’s choice of the most outstanding AUSA in the country.

At the concluding banquet, the gavel was passed from Bill Lutz to the newly elected President, Rick Deane. Retiring Executive Director Ron Woods was honored and an election was held for the new slate of officers and directors. Greg Vega was elected Treasurer and new board members were selected: Karen Hewitt, Doug Jones, Paul Coggins, Tom Maroney and Ron Woods.

It was announced that next year’s conference will be held in Atlanta, Georgia on October 11-13, 2012.

‘Main Justice’ Coverage of Santa Fe Conference Begins

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Calling it a “lively discussion,” Main Justice has reported on Saturday’s NAFUSA WikiLeaks panel.

Should the U.S. government prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for disclosing a vast trove of classified State Department cables and military documents?

The pros and cons of prosecution– and whether WikiLeaks is legally distinguishable from newspapers and other traditional media – were debated Saturday at the National Association of Former U.S. Attorneys annual conference in Santa Fe, N.M.

Read Mary Jacoby’s story.

In another article about the conference, Main Justice reports on the J. Michael Bradford Award.

Ken Sorenson said he was “speechless” when former District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Jay Stephens called to tell him on behalf of NAFUSA he’d won the J. Michael Bradford award. He thanked the organization for “thinking about the guys out there in the trenches.”

Sorenson won the Award for his prosecution of a military technology espionage case. Main Justice has the details.

Nathan Fishbach Dies

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Nathan A. Fishbach, a former United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Wisconsin in 1993, died of cancer on September 17, 2011. He is survived by his wife, Susan, and three sons, Jeffrey, Brian and Michael. He was 58. Memorial contributions are suggested to the Nathan Fishbach Student Development Fund at Marquette University School of Law.

Fishbach served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for over 13 years, where a major focus of his work was in the prosecution of complex financial cases. He was a shareholder at Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek in Milwaukee, which he joined upon leaving the U.S. Attorney post in 1993. He was the Founding President of the Eastern District of Wisconsin Bar Association. He was a graduate of Villanova University Law School.

Santa Fe Update

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Secretary Janet Napolitano to be Keynote Speaker

NAFUSA’s annual conference will open in Santa Fe on Thursday, September 29, 2011. Janet Napolitano, the third Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, will be the keynote speaker at the closing banquet on Saturday evening, October 1.

Prior to becoming secretary, Napolitano was in her second term as Governor of Arizona. She was the first woman to chair the National Governors Association. She also served as the United States Attorney for the District of Arizona. Secretary Napolitano is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law.

The conference will be held at La Posada de Santa Fe Resort & Spa. If you haven’t yet registered for the NAFUSA conference, click here for the registration form. The program for this year’s conference is almost complete. Click here for the most recent draft program.

The reservation deadline for the conference hotel was August 30, 2011, but there may be a few rooms available due to cancellations. Call La Posada at 505.954.9686 or the overflow hotel a few blocks away, the Inn and Spa at Loretto, at 866-582-1646. Mention NAFUSA and ask for the conference rate of $249 per night plus $12 resort fee.

Santa Fe advertises itself as “The City Different” and in many ways lives up to the claim. There is much to savor in its plaza, churches, museums, galleries and shops. But, if time permits, even more “difference” can be found nearby.
Continue reading about nearby attractions →

Todd Jones Named Acting Director of ATF

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U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota

On August 30, 2011, Attorney General Eric Holder named NAFUSA member B. Todd Jones, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Jones assumed his duties at ATF on August 31. He will continue as U.S. Attorney.

President Barack Obama nominated Jones for the position of United States Attorney in 2009. President Bill Clinton had appointed him to the same position in 1998, and he served until 2001. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School. Jones has served in the United States Marine Corps.

Paul J. Fishman to Head AGAC

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U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey

Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. named Paul J. Fishman, the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, as chair of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC), effective September 7, 2011. Fishman succeeds B. Todd Jones, who has become the Acting Director of ATF.

Fishman has served as U.S. Attorney since his 2009 appointment by President Barack Obama. He has also served as the vice chair of the AGAC. From 1994-1997, Fishman served as a senior adviser to the Attorney General and to the Deputy Attorney General.

Fishman is a graduate of Harvard Law School where he was the managing editor of the Harvard Law Review. He clerked for the Hon. Edward R. Becker of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Johnnie Mac Walters Authors Memoir

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NAFUSA Member Served in Nixon Administration

Long time NAFUSA member Johnnie Mac Walters has authored a book, Our Journey, describing his career during the Nixon Administration. He served as Assistant Attorney General (1969-1971) and as Commissioner of Internal Revenue (1971-1973).

As the book jacket describes,

In 1971 embattled President Richard M. Nixon sought to use the Internal Revenue Service as a weapon to investigate and punish his “enemies.” Tapes of White House conversations reveal that Nixon wanted as Commissioner “a ruthless son-of-a-bitch that he will do what he is told; that every income tax return I want to see I see; that he will go after our enemies and not go after our friends.”

Attorney General John Mitchell recommended Assistant AG Johnnie Mac Walters. Apparently no one checked with Walters who was “shocked” when White House Counsel John Dean presented him with an “enemies list.” Walters resisted pressure from the White House and told Secretary of the Treasury George Schultz that he could “have my job anytime he wanted it.”

Walters earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. He served in World War II in the U.S. Army Air Force as a navigator, flying fifty bombing missions. Walters is retired and lives in Greenville, South Carolina.

The book is available from the publisher, Stroud & Hall Publishers, P.O. Box 27210, Macon, GA 31221, 800-331-9133. The price is $20 plus mailing.