Daniel W. Sutherland

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

Dan is the Chief Counsel for CISA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Dan’s office negotiates complex technology agreements, provides daily operational support to the largest cyber operations center in the civilian government, advocates the agency’s positions in litigation, drafts and negotiates legislation, and responds to audits and investigations. Dan has been engaged in many major cyber incidents of the past several years, including the OPM data breach, threats to the nation’s election infrastructure, and threats posed by the Kaspersky Lab and the resulting litigation (909 F.3d 463 (2018)). Dan’s position builds on a career focused on issues at the intersection of civil liberties and national security. In 2003, Dan was appointed by President Bush to serve as the first Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the Department of Homeland Security, where he built a civil liberties office and advised Secretaries Ridge and Chertoff on a range of security issues. His speech on the need for the government to engage with American Arab and Muslim communities appeared in the publication Vital Speeches of the Day. Dan started his federal career as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, where for 14 years he litigated cases in courts across the country. He is a graduate of the University of Louisville and University of Virginia School of Law.