Caroline Diane Krass (born January 5, 1968) is an American attorney and government official who currently serves as the

General Counsel of the Department of Defense The General Counsel of the Department of Defense is the chief legal officer of the Department of Defense (DoD), advising both the Secretary and Deputy Secretary on all legal matters and services, and providing legal advice to Office of the Secr ...

. Krass was a partner at the Washington office of the Los Angeles-based law firm Gibson Dunn (formerly

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is an American multinational law firm headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1890, the firm includes approximately 1,400 attorneys and 1,000 staff located in 20 offices around the world, including North ...

). She served as

General Counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

for the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

from 2014 to 2017, and prior to that as Principal Deputy

Assistant Attorney General Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an assistant attorney general. The president of the United States appoints individuals to the position of assistant attorney general with the advice and ...

for the

Office of Legal Counsel The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General's position as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the Attorney ...

, and briefly as the Acting

at the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

. She has also been a lawyer in the State Department, the Treasury Department,

United States National Security Council The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House, it is part of the Exe ...

, and the Office of the

United States Attorney for the District of Columbia The United States Attorney for the District of Columbia (USADC) is the United States Attorney responsible for representing the federal government in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the ...

Early life and education

Krass was born in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Co ...

. She received her

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

from Stanford University in 1989, where she was elected to

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

. She went on to study at

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

, serving as an editor of the '' Yale Law Journal'' and receiving her J.D. in 1993.

Career

Krass clerked for Judge

Patricia Wald Patricia Ann McGowan Wald (September 16, 1928 – January 12, 2019) was an American judge who served as the Chief United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) and as a judg ...

on the

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate co ...

from 1993 to 1994. She then served as an attorney-advisor at the Office of the Legal Adviser of the Department of State from 1994 to 1996. She subsequently served various roles as a lawyer in the Department of the Treasury, the National Security Council, and the

of the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

. She also served as a Special Assistant

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

from 2007 to 2009, as well as a Special Advisor to the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

on National Security Issues before becoming the Principal Deputy

for the

. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

nominated Krass to replace Robert Eatinger as the

for the

. On March 13, 2014, after a heated confirmation debate, the Senate confirmed Krass in a 95-4 vote for the position. On May 8, 2017, Gibson Dunn announced that Krass had joined the firm's Washington, D.C. office as a partner. Krass joined insurance company

AIG American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. , AIG companies employed 49,600 people.https://www.aig.com/content/dam/aig/amer ...

in 2018, serving as its Senior Vice President and General Counsel, General Insurance, and Deputy General Counsel, AIG.

Nomination to Defense Department

President Joe Biden nominated Krass to the position of

on April 28, 2021. The Senate's Armed Forces Committee held hearings on her nomination on June 16, 2021. Krass' nomination was favorably reported by the committee on June 22, 2021. The Senate confirmed the nomination by a voice vote on July 22, 2021. She was sworn in on August 2, 2021.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Krass, Caroline 1968 births Living people People from Santa Barbara, California 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers Stanford University alumni Obama administration personnel George W. Bush administration personnel Clinton administration personnel Biden administration personnel United States Department of Defense officials Yale Law School alumni United States Assistant Attorneys General for the Office of Legal Counsel 20th-century American women lawyers 21st-century American women lawyers People associated with Gibson Dunn