Deborah A. Curtis

Deborah Curtis, former Deputy General Counsel for Litigation and Investigations at the CIA, is a member of the firm’s White Collar Defense & Investigations practice. She focuses on sensitive investigations and defense, as well as other litigation and enforcement matters. An accomplished trial lawyer, Deborah has first-chaired 17 jury trials and over 50 bench trials as both prosecutor and defense counsel.

Deborah leverages nearly three decades of experience in leadership roles at the CIA; Main DOJ; the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the District of Columbia and Southern District of California; and the Air Force, to provide clients with seasoned judgment and deft advocacy during difficult times. As adviser to senior CIA leadership, Deborah oversaw all litigation and investigations at CIA, including congressional inquests, crisis response, criminal inquiries, and the invocation of state secrets and diplomatic privileges and immunities. Prior to her tenure at CIA, Deborah was Chief Counsel for Industry and Security (BIS) at the U.S. Department of Commerce where she co-drafted the first Huawei semiconductor foreign direct product rule and advised on CFIUS matters. She previously spent more than a decade at DOJ, including as Deputy Chief in the National Security Division’s Counterespionage Section, where she oversaw all Treasury Department sanctions and export control criminal prosecutions nationwide.

Deborah was an Assistant U.S. Attorney and Deputy Chief in the National Security Section for the District of Columbia and, previously, an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California’s Criminal Division. She also served for ten years with the U.S. Department of the Air Force as an active duty and reserve Judge Advocate, attaining the grade of Major.