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David Newman Named Among Washingtonian’s Most Influential People

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David Newman, chair of MoFo’s Government Strategies practice, has been selected to the Washingtonian’s 2026 list of the 500 Most...

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David Newman, chair of MoFo’s Government Strategies practice, has been selected to the Washingtonian’s 2026 list of the 500 Most Influential People Shaping Policy.Over the course of his career, David helped shape how the U.S. addresses evolving global threats. As the Department of Justice’s second-highest-ranking national security official, David oversaw nationwide prosecutions involving sanctions, terrorism, and espionage. During his tenure, DOJ launched a new section dedicated to confronting nation-state cyber threats; revamped its approach to corporate enforcement in national security cases; and developed innovative new programs to protect Americans’ sensitive data and technology.David’s recognition reflects a career at the center of high-stakes policy and enforcement decisions impacting both government and the private sector.A founder of MoFo’s industry leading national security practice nearly a decade ago, David returned to the firm in 2025 and serves as a go-to resource for clients facing legal scrutiny by government agencies around the world.<a href="https://washingtonian.com/2026/05/05/washington-dcs-500-most-influential-people-of-2026/" target="_blank">Learn more about this recognition and explore the full list of honorees.</a>

David Newman Named Among Washingtonian’s Most Influential People

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David Newman chairs the Firm’s interdisciplinary Government Strategies practice. A leader of the National Security practice, he draws upon his deep experience in private practice and as a senior U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and White House oﬃcial to represent clients in high stakes matters involving national security, geopolitical risk, emerging technology, and crisis management. David also leads the Firm’s Crisis Management practice. Over two decades, David served in national security positions at the highest levels of government and the private sector.A former Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for National Security (PDAAG) and Associate Deputy Attorney General, David regularly advises companies navigating cybersecurity incidents, sanctions and export control enforcement, Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS) reviews, and Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) investigations. He has extensive experience conducting internal and government-facing cross-border investigations and representing clients in congressional inquiries and hearings.David launched the firm’s innovative Crisis Management practice nearly a decade ago, serving as a go-to resource for clients facing legal scrutiny by government agencies around the world. Drawing on his background working on complex and sensitive matters in private practice and at the highest levels of the U.S. government, he understands how regulators and prosecutors think, enabling him to provide highly strategic counsel to clients across a broad range of industries. He has frequently served as a liaison between clients and government agencies, including DOJ, the FBI, and other U.S. national security and intelligence agencies, and counseled clients on emerging regulation involving new technologies. For his work advising companies on how to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, he was named a “Trailblazer” by the National Law Journal in 2020. With the change in administration in 2021, David left MoFo and returned to DOJ to serve in a “day one” leadership role. From 2021 to 2022, he served as Associate Deputy Attorney General. From 2022 to 2025, he served as PDAAG, DOJ’s second highest-ranking national security official, supervising the work of nearly 300 career attorneys in DOJ’s National Security Division (NSD) with engagement across virtually all aspects of NSD’s portfolio, including supervision of DOJ’s criminal enforcement programs for sanctions, export controls, counterterrorism, counterespionage, and FARA. During his tenure, NSD created the “NatSecCyber” section, the first new litigating section in NSD’s history with a mission to centralize DOJ’s prosecutions and disruptions of national security cyber threats emanating from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea (among other U.S. adversaries); restructured and expanded NSD’s corporate enforcement program; and spearheaded the U.S. government’s approach to countering the threats posed by foreign adversary access to Americans’ sensitive bulk data. In addition to his work supervising investigations and prosecutions, David served for more than two years as DOJ’s regular representative to Assistant Secretary meetings of CFIUS; represented DOJ at dozens of National Security Council (NSC) meetings; and led administration-wide initiatives involving emerging technology, bulk data security, and countering foreign malign influence and transnational repression. In private practice, David has routinely advised clients on cybersecurity and data privacy matters including sensitive issues involving incident preparedness and response, emerging technology regulation, and economic espionage. In 2024, he delivered the capstone address at the U.S. Cyber Command Annual Legal Conference, in which he highlighted DOJ’s work countering nation state cyber threats. He has testified before Congress on the threats to national security posed by emerging technology, including serving as lead briefer for an all Member briefing on proposed legislation to address the national security risks posed by TikTok and other foreign adversary-controlled social media applications. He also served as the U.S. government’s lead representative in international meetings and initiatives to address the evolving threat landscape of foreign malign influence and transnational repression. Named several years ago as one of the top “40 under 40” figures in the data law bar around the world by Global Data Review, David’s commentary and thought leadership on law and technology have appeared in and been quoted in CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Corporate Counsel, Ethisphere, and Wired Magazine, among other publications. A former law clerk on the U.S. Supreme Court, David is routinely asked to advise clients on both the near-term and long-term implications of unsettled legal questions at the intersection of law and emerging technology.David’s practice also extends to advising on congressional oversight matters related to national security and emerging technology, including responding to congressional inquiries on behalf of large, multinational companies and preparing individuals for interviews and testimony in connection with congressional hearings and investigations. While in private practice, David advised leading company executives and other prominent individuals related to high-profile hearings and investigations of the Senate and House Judiciary Committee, among other congressional committees. In his positions in government, David regularly briefed congressional members and staff on sensitive national security developments and coordinated briefings and responses to congressional inquiries involving administration priorities.Earlier in his career, David held key national security legal and policy posts at the White House, including serving as Special Assistant and Associate Counsel to President Obama (2015–2017) and in multiple roles on the NSC staff (2013–2015). Throughout his tenure at the White House, David played a central role in coordinating the administration’s response to domestic and international crises including serving as Director for Counterterrorism, Acting Deputy Legal Advisor, and as Chief of Staff in the Office of the Ebola Response Coordinator. In his White House posts, David regularly advised the president and other senior administration officials on a range of complex matters affecting the federal government and oversaw a broad portfolio that spanned national security priorities, crisis response and preparedness planning, new data and technology initiatives, criminal justice policy, and civil rights litigation. He also helped the National Security Council to coordinate the U.S. government’s response to the largest Ebola outbreak in recorded history.David began his Executive Branch tenure as a career attorney in DOJ’s NSD. In his role as counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security from 2011 to 2013, David helped counsel senior officials within DOJ and across the U.S. government on a wide array of matters—from high profile terrorism investigations and litigation involving government surveillance programs to matters before CFIUS. Prior to his Executive Branch service, David clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and he also served as a litigator in private practice at an international law firm.David received his J.D. from Yale Law School and his B.A. summa cum laude from Columbia University.<h4>Selected Private Practice Matters</h4><ul><li>Advising a major U.S. telecommunications company that successfully obtained national security and other regulatory approvals at the federal and state levels in connection with a proposed merger.</li><li>Advising a major U.S. technology company facing exposure of sensitive customer information by a third-party vendor on its response to a vulnerability disclosure report.</li><li>Representing a leading U.S. company in a high-profile, multijurisdictional, government-facing bribery investigation in Africa.</li><li>Conducting cybersecurity tabletop exercises at the operator, executive, and board levels for Fortune 500 organizations in the healthcare, retail, and pharmaceutical sectors.</li><li>Counseling a major U.S. media company on cybersecurity matters.</li><li>Coordinating the work of an independent corporate compliance monitor for a large South American company in the wake of a multijurisdictional resolution with DOJ.</li><li>Advising a non-U.S. investor on CFIUS strategy and other regulatory issues arising out of a multi billion dollar investment in a major U.S. company.</li><li>Conducting pre-investment and pre-acquisition CFIUS due diligence in several multi-billion-dollar transactions in which a non-U.S. investor pursued positions in leading and emerging technology companies.</li></ul>