Justice Department's national security chief leaves

Assistant Attorney General David Kris is leaving his position to work in the private sector

Published January 13, 2011 10:45PM (EST)

Attorney General Eric Holder answers a question about WikiLeaks during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Monday, Nov. 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) (AP)
Attorney General Eric Holder answers a question about WikiLeaks during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Monday, Nov. 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) (AP)

The assistant attorney general who has overseen some of the most significant terrorism investigations since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is leaving the Justice Department.

Assistant Attorney General David Kris will become general counsel at a company founded by the retired chief strategist and top technology officer at Microsoft Corp., Nathan Myhrvold.

As head of Justice's national security division since March 2009, Kris supervised investigation of a plot by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula to send printer cartridge bombs to the U.S., the Times Square bombing attempt and the Christmas 2009 attempt in Detroit to blow up an airliner with explosives hidden in underwear.

Kris will work for Intellectual Ventures, a Bellevue, Wash., firm started by Myhrvold. The company says Myhrvold holds hundreds of patents and has many more pending.


By Associated Press

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