Deputy Director of CIA to Give Talk on International Law

The Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, David S. Cohen ’89, will be coming to Yale Law School on March 7, 2016 to give a lunchtime talk hosted by the The Center for Global Legal Challenges.

Cohen will also be meeting with students for a breakfast, visiting with Professor Oona Hathaway’s International Law class, and giving a lunchtime talk for students during his visit.

Cohen was sworn in as the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on February 9, 2015.

Prior to becoming Deputy Director, Cohen was the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, a post he assumed in 2011 after being confirmed by the United States Senate. As Under Secretary, Cohen directed the Treasury Department’s policy, enforcement, regulatory, and intelligence functions aimed at identifying and disrupting financial support to nations, organizations and individuals posing a threat to our national security. He also led the Department’s efforts to combat money laundering and financial crime. From 2009 to 2011, Cohen was the Treasury’s Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing. As Assistant Secretary, Cohen oversaw the Treasury’s counterterrorist financing and anti-money laundering policy efforts.

Prior to joining the Treasury Department in 2009, Cohen practiced law in Washington, D.C. for almost 20 years. Immediately prior to joining the Treasury, Cohen was a partner at WilmerHale, where his practice focused on civil and criminal litigation, the defense of regulatory investigations, and anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance advice. Earlier in his career, Cohen worked in the Treasury’s General Counsel’s office, was a partner at Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin, and clerked for a federal trial court judge.

Cohen received his law degree from Yale Law School in 1989 and his undergraduate degree from Cornell University in 1985.

The event is part of a series of talks held by Yale Law School Center for Global Legal Challenges, which has brought out more than a dozen international law, foreign affairs, and national security experts to engage with students. Led by Professor Hathaway ’97, the independent center seeks to bridge the divide between the legal academy and legal practice on global legal issues. It provides a forum where academic experts and students regularly interact with public and private sector actors responsible for addressing global legal challenges. By bringing these communities together, the Center aims to inject new ideas into legal policy debates and grow a new generation of lawyers with a sense of their capacity and responsibility to use international law, foreign affairs law, and national security law to address real challenges facing the nation.

This is event is closed the the public.