FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                        DAG
MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1994                                           (202) 616-2777
                                                              TDD (202) 514-1888

              NEW EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANNOUNCED

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Justice Department today announced the
establishment of the Executive Office for National Security within the
Office of the Deputy Attorney General.
     The Executive Office will be headed by Mark Steinberg, most recently
the Counselor on International Law to the Legal Adviser of the State
Department.
     The Executive Office will coordinate activities of the Justice
Department involving national security issues, and act as a forum for
developing national security policy.  It will also serve as a primary focal
point for contacts between the Justice Department and other agencies on
national security matters.
     The Office will have a permanent staff of five professionals.  
Michael Vatis, currently Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General, will be
Deputy Director.  Drew Arena, who has been Director of the Justice
Department's Office of International Programs, will join the Executive
Office as Counsel for International Programs.  Arena will continue to be
responsible for preparing top officials of the Department for meetings with
their foreign counterparts.
     The Director of the Executive Office will chair regular meetings of an
Executive Committee whose membership includes representatives of each of
the Justice Department components with significant national security
involvement.  These meetings will identify and recommend action on national
security issues of immediate and long-term concern to the Department, and
serve as a point of information exchange.
     Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick said she is giving the
Executive Office full support and authority in matters of national
security.  Opting for a "lean and mean" staffing, she said she prefers
relying on "a few quality people who will work hard to get the job done."  

     Steinberg was a litigation partner at the Los Angeles law firm of
O'Melveny and Myers prior to joining the State Department in August 1993.  
     Secretary of State Warren Christopher praised the formation of the
Executive Office for National Security as "a creative response to the
challenges posed by the growing internationalization of crime."
     "I applaud the wisdom of creating the Office and of naming Mark
Steinberg as its Director," said Christopher.  "He is a talented lawyer who
contributed significantly at the State Department and is a strong choice
for the new post." 
     Deputy Director Michael Vatis is a former law clerk to Judge Ruth
Bader Ginsburg and Justice Thurgood Marshall.  Vatis was an attorney at
Mayer, Brown and Platt in Washington, D.C. and served as Special Counsel to
Deputy Attorney General Gorelick when she was General Counsel at the
Department of Defense.
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