Lisa Monaco served as Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism from 2013 to 2017. She was responsible for advising the President on all aspects of counterterrorism policy and strategy and coordinating homeland security-related activities on issues ranging from terrorist attacks at home and abroad to cybersecurity, pandemics, and natural disasters. Monaco also chaired the Cabinet-level Homeland Security Principals’ Committee which advises the President on homeland security policy issues and crises.
Prior to her service in the White House, Monaco spent fifteen years at the Department of Justice, where she served both as a career federal prosecutor and in senior management positions at the Justice Department and the FBI. She was Counsel to and then Chief of Staff at the FBI. In 2011, Monaco was nominated by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as Assistant Attorney General for National Security, the first woman to serve in that position. Monaco made investigating and prosecuting national security cyber threats a top priority during her tenure and under her leadership, a nationwide network of national security cyber prosecutors was created.
Monaco began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Jane R. Roth on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She later served as Counsel to the Attorney General and then as a Federal prosecutor. She is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Chicago Law School.
