William Welch II

Last updated May 05, 2019

William Welch II is the former Chief of the Public Integrity Section of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). Welch is noted chiefly for his role in the prosecution of former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens and the prosecution of U.S. intelligence community whistleblowers for alleged leaks to the press.

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government, responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice in the United States, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries. The department was formed in 1870 during the Ulysses S. Grant administration.

Alaska is a U.S. state in the northwest extremity of the United States West Coast, just across the Bering Strait from Asia. The Canadian province of British Columbia and territory of Yukon border the state to the east and southeast. Its most extreme western part is Attu Island, and it has a maritime border with Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. To the north are the Chukchi and Beaufort seas—southern parts of the Arctic Ocean. The Pacific Ocean lies to the south and southwest. It is the largest U.S. state by area and the seventh largest subnational division in the world. In addition, it is the 3rd least populous and the most sparsely populated of the 50 United States; nevertheless, it is by far the most populous territory located mostly north of the 60th parallel in North America: its population—estimated at 738,432 by the United States Census Bureau in 2015— is more than quadruple the combined populations of Northern Canada and Greenland. Approximately half of Alaska's residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area. Alaska's economy is dominated by the fishing, natural gas, and oil industries, resources which it has in abundance. Military bases and tourism are also a significant part of the economy.

The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, which along with the United States House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the legislature of the United States. The Senate chamber is located in the north wing of the Capitol, in Washington, D.C.

Education

Welch graduated from Princeton University in 1985, and from the Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago in 1988.

Princeton University University in Princeton, New Jersey

Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. The institution moved to Newark in 1747, then to the current site nine years later, and renamed itself Princeton University in 1896.

Role in Department of Justice

Welch spent much of his career in U.S. Department of Justice service.

After graduation from law school, Welch moved to Washington, D.C., serving for several years in the Tax Division of the DOJ. Following this he served as Assistant US Attorney, in Reno, Nevada, where he specialized on drug and money-laundering cases. In 1995, Welch was transferred to the Springfield, Massachusetts US Attorneys Office. In 2006, he moved to Washington, and took the job of acting chief of the DOJ Public Integrity Section. By 2007, he was confirmed in the role of Chief of the Section.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington or D.C., is the capital of the United States. Founded after the American Revolution as the seat of government of the newly independent country, Washington was named after George Washington, the first President of the United States and a Founding Father. As the seat of the United States federal government and several international organizations, Washington is an important world political capital. The city is also one of the most visited cities in the world, with more than 20 million tourists annually.

Reno is a city in the U.S. state of Nevada, located in the northwestern part of the state, approximately 22 miles (35 km) from Lake Tahoe. Known as "The Biggest Little City in the World", Reno is known for its casino industry. Reno is the county seat of Washoe County. The city sits in a high desert river valley at the foot of the Sierra Nevada and its downtown area occupies a valley informally known as the Truckee Meadows. The city is named after Union Major General Jesse L. Reno, who was killed in action during the American Civil War at the Battle of South Mountain on Fox's Gap.

Springfield, Massachusetts City in Massachusetts

Springfield is a city in the state of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern Mill River. As of the 2010 Census, the city's population was 153,060. As of 2017, the estimated population was 154,758, making it the third-largest city in Massachusetts, the fourth-most populous city in New England after Boston, Worcester, and Providence, and the 12th-most populous in the Northeastern United States. Metropolitan Springfield, as one of two metropolitan areas in Massachusetts, had a population of 692,942 as of 2010.

Noted cases

During the Bush administration, Welch's most famous case involved the Ted Stevens ethics prosecution. During the Obama administration, Welch's portfolio focused on Bush-era investigations which had failed to lead to actual charges.^[1] Among these, Welch is most noted for using the 1917 Espionage Act to prosecute two U.S. intelligence officers speaking to the press, in effect prosecuting the officers for whistleblowing.^[1]

Theodore Fulton Stevens Sr. was an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Alaska from 1968 to 2009. He was the longest-serving Republican U.S. Senator in history at the time he left office; his record was surpassed in January 2017 by Orrin Hatch from Utah. He was President pro tempore of the United States Senate in the 108th and 109th Congresses from January 3, 2003 to January 3, 2007 and was the third U.S. Senator to hold the title of President pro tempore emeritus.

Ted Stevens Case

Assistant Attorney General Welch was one of six lawyers investigated between 2009-2012 in relation to the botched ethics prosecution of former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. Welch stepped down briefly over the controversy in October 2009,^[2] returning to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he'd worked as an assistant US Attorney before coming to Washington. After one month, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, head of the DOJ Criminal Division, reinstated Welch, placing him in charge of pursuing national security leaks.

Lanny Arthur Breuer is an American lawyer and was the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. On January 30, 2013, the Department of Justice announced that AAG Breuer would leave his post on March 1, 2013.

In 2012, the Special Counsel report on the case was released. It said,

The investigation and prosecution of U.S. Senator Ted Stevens were permeated by the systematic concealment of significant exculpatory evidence which would have independently corroborated Senator Stevens's defense and his testimony, and seriously damaged the testimony and credibility of the government's key witness.^[3]^[4]

Prosecution of U.S. intelligence leaks

Thomas Drake case

Welch oversaw the case against Thomas Drake, claiming that Mr. Drake had leaked national security secrets to the press; Mr. Drake was subsequently charged with ten felony counts, the principal charges being forwarded under the Espionage Act of 1917. Writing about the case in The Washingtonian , commentator Shane Harris noted Welch's tenacity in the case and his opponents' characterization of him as "...a piranha,... a man with 'tunnel vision', ... a 'hard ass' who tends to view his targets in the worst possible light."^[1] Harris quotes Steven Aftergood, a noted critic on US Secrecy Policy,^[5] as saying, "It seems clear that the Obama Administration misjudged the merits of its case against Drake, pursuing minor infractions with disproportionate zeal."^[1]

Jeffrey Sterling case

Welch oversaw the ongoing case against former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling. Sterling was indicted in December 2010 under the Espionage Act of 1917 on charges he had violated national security provisions by disclosing classified information to a New York Times journalist, James Risen, specifically being information used in the book State of War . The information allegedly leaked addressed a secret program related to weapons of mass destruction proliferation.^{[ citation needed ]}

Departure from government service

Welch was reprimanded for failure to remit required discovery evidence in the Stevens case as well as the intelligence leaks prosecutions.^[6] On April 17, 2012, William Welch left his job the Department of Justice.^[7]

As of February 2015, Welch is Associate Chief Counsel at Cigna Health Insurance.

Related Research Articles

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References

1 2 3 4 Harris, Shane (21 July 2011). "William Welch: Obama Administration's Point Man to Stop Leaks". The Washingtonian.
↑ Johnson, Carrie (22 October 2009). "William Welch, head of Justice Department's anti-corruption unit, to leave post". Washington Post .
↑ Schuelke, Henry F. III; Shields, William (14 November 2011). "Report to Hon. Emmet G. Sullivan of Investigation Conducted Pursuant to the Court's Order, dated April 7, 2009" (PDF).
↑ Barry, Stephanie (16 March 2012). "Assistant U.S. Attorney William Welch II rebuked in report in connection with Ted Stevens prosecution". MassLive.
↑ Priest, Dana (26 November 2003). "One Man Against Secrecy; Newsletter Editor Works to Limit Classified Information". Washington Post .
↑ "Sen. Stevens prosecutor Welch leaving DOJ". United Press International. 16 April 2012.
↑ Yost, Pete (17 April 2012). "DOJ prosecutor in Stevens case leaving government". Washington Post.

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[Washingtonian-1] 1 2 3 4 Harris, Shane (21 July 2011). "William Welch: Obama Administration's Point Man to Stop Leaks". The Washingtonian.

[WP-2] Johnson, Carrie (22 October 2009). "William Welch, head of Justice Department's anti-corruption unit, to leave post". Washington Post .

[3] Schuelke, Henry F. III; Shields, William (14 November 2011). "Report to Hon. Emmet G. Sullivan of Investigation Conducted Pursuant to the Court's Order, dated April 7, 2009" (PDF).

[4] Barry, Stephanie (16 March 2012). "Assistant U.S. Attorney William Welch II rebuked in report in connection with Ted Stevens prosecution". MassLive.

[5] Priest, Dana (26 November 2003). "One Man Against Secrecy; Newsletter Editor Works to Limit Classified Information". Washington Post .

[6] "Sen. Stevens prosecutor Welch leaving DOJ". United Press International. 16 April 2012.

[7] Yost, Pete (17 April 2012). "DOJ prosecutor in Stevens case leaving government". Washington Post.