Rajesh De

Rajesh "Raj" De (born circa 1972 ) is an American lawyer and former U.S. government official who later became the managing partner for the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm Mayer Brown. During the presidency of Barack Obama, he served in three significant government roles—as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy, as White House Staff Secretary, and finally as general counsel of the U.S. National Security Agency.

Earlier in his career, he was counsel to the 9/11 Commission and assisted in drafting the 9/11 Commission Report and the legislation implementing recommendations of the Report.

Early life and education De was born and raised near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Indian Bengali immigrants. He received his bachelor's degree from Harvard College and earned his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School in 1999. During law school, De clerked for Judge A. Wallace Tashima on the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California.

9/11 Commission Following the September 11 attacks, he served as counsel to the 9/11 Commission, conducting interviews with dozens of U.S. government and foreign officials, and drafting part of the 9/11 Commission Report. Following the publishing of the report, De went to work as special bipartisan staff to the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee, where he assisted in the drafting of legislation implementing the report's recommendations—including the establishment of a Director of National Intelligence and a National Counterterrorism Center. His work was ultimately incorporated into the 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act.

Office of Legal Policy Near the beginning of the presidency of Barack Obama, De returned to the U.S. Department of Justice, where he was appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy under Acting Assistant Attorney General Kevin R. Jones. Jones was a career DOJ employee who became Acting AAG with the departure of President Bush's appointee in that role; President Obama's nominee for Assistant Attorney General, Christopher H. Schroeder, was not confirmed until April 2010, leaving De as the senior-most political appointee at the Office of Legal Policy until that confirmation. In this role, he worked closely with Attorney General Eric Holder as well as leadership across all DOJ components.

Mayer Brown After leaving the NSA, he rejoined the law firm Mayer Brown. In 2019 he was appointed managing partner at Mayer Brown's Washington, D.C., office, and a member of the Central Intelligence Agency general counsel's external advisory board.

Awards and recognition De was awarded the U.S. Attorney General's John Marshall Award, the Department of Justice's highest award for attorneys. He was also awarded Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service, the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the National Security Agency Director's Distinguished Service Medal, and the National Security Agency Intelligence Under Law Award.