Arnold & Porter law firm hires CIA lawyer for national security work

(Reuters) – Law firm Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer said Tuesday that it hired a top lawyer from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to join its white-collar practice, as the Biden administration spotlights national security issues in its corporate enforcement efforts.

Deborah Curtis, a former CIA deputy general counsel, will be a partner in the firm’s white-collar defense and investigations group in Washington, D.C. Curtis said she will specialize in national security matters including export control restrictions, foreign influence laws and supply chain regulations.

Curtis’ arrival comes as the Biden administration prepares to heighten enforcement of economic sanctions and export controls, targeting corporate conduct that may undermine U.S. efforts to counter adversaries like Russia and China.

Curtis said multinational companies are still “coming to grips” with government enforcement and regulatory actions carried out with the aim of protecting national security.

“National security wields such a heavy hammer,” Curtis said. “If the government raises the national security specter, it has a real chilling effect on your ability to counter.”

Curtis said she joined Washington-founded Arnold & Porter because the 1,000-lawyer firm has credibility within the U.S. intelligence community and already has a national security dimension to its white-collar practice.

At the CIA, Curtis handled litigation and investigations, responding to congressional inquiries and lawsuits involving the U.S. intelligence agency, and started a task force to provide rapid legal advice during intelligence crises.

She was previously chief counsel for industry and security at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where she worked on export control policy and helped draft restrictions on China-headquartered Huawei Technologies’ access to computer chips.

Curtis also worked at the U.S. Justice Department as a supervisor in the National Security Division and as a prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington.

While not a member of U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team that investigated possible coordination between Russia and individuals connected to Donald Trump’s election campaign, Curtis worked…