06 Apr 2026
Devin DeBacker Joins Covington & Burling LLP as Partner in CFIUS Practice
"Devin DeBacker has joined Covington & Burling LLP as a partner in the firm’s CFIUS practice, focusing on national security, investment, trade, and technology-related transactional matters."
DeBacker served as Chief of the Foreign Investment Review Section (FIRS) in the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division from January 2022 through March 2026. In that capacity he was the senior career executive responsible for DOJ’s input and participation in CFIUS, Team Telecom, and related national security and transactional matters. He led the development and implementation of the DOJ’s Data Security Program and worked with other agencies on emerging national security authorities, including outbound investment and supply chain regulation. At the beginning of the second Trump Administration he served as the interim head of the National Security Division as part of the landing team.
Before leading FIRS, DeBacker was a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, advising on legal issues including national security and economic and trade sanctions. From April 2019 to August 2020 he served in the Office of the White House Counsel as Associate Counsel and Special Assistant to the President, acting as the White House’s day-to-day legal advisor on economic national security and international trade, with responsibility for transactional and regulatory issues at the intersection of business, national security, investment, trade, and technology.