Assistant Attorney General John Carlin Delivers Remarks at the Brookings Institute's Emerging National Security Threats Forum

WASHINGTON - Thanks for that kind introduction. I’m grateful to be here at Brookings today discussing emerging national security threats. On Monday, the Department of Justice announced charges against five members of the Chinese military for computer hacking, economic espionage, and other offenses directed at six American victims in the U.S. nuclear power, metals, and solar products industries. Today, I’ll focus on this growing threat: state-sponsored cyber intrusions targeting, for profit, sensitive and proprietary information of U.S. companies. These charges against uniformed members of the Chinese military were the first of their kind. Some said they could not be brought. At the Department, we follow the facts and evidence where they lead. Sometimes, the facts and evidence lead us to a lone hacker in a basement in the U.S., or an organized crime syndicate in Russia. And sometimes, they lead us to a uniformed member of the Chinese military. But, no matter where they lead, there can be no free passes. We should not stand idly by, tacitly giving permission to anyone to steal from us. We will hold accountable those who steal – no matter who they are, where they are, or whether they steal in person or through the Internet. Because cybercrime has real victims. While cases like the one brought in Pittsburgh are extremely challenging, this week we proved that they are possible. The criminal justice system must be a critical component of our nation’s cybersecurity strategy. As long as criminals continue stealing from American businesses, we will continue pursuing those criminals. The charges announced on Monday were groundbreaking. They represent a significant step forward in our cyber approach. And they were many years in the making. The National Security Division Within the Justice Department, the National Security Division – or NSD – focuses on cyber threats to the national security – those posed by terrorists and nation states. Our approach to these threats is deeply rooted in our Division’s history, and our success in the cyber arena builds upon a solid foundation. NSD was created in response to the grave threat of terrorism. After the devastating attacks of September 11, it became clear that the Justice Department needed to reorganize to tackle terrorism and national security threats more effectively. We needed a single Division to integrate the work of prosecutors and law enforcement officials with intelligence attorneys and the Intelligence Community. So, in 2006, Congress created the Department’s first new litigating division in almost half a century: NSD. NSD works closely with partners throughout the government to ensure we leverage all available tools to combat the terrorism threat. And we’ve proven, in that context, that the criminal justice system is a vital part of our nation’s counterterrorism strategy. Just this week, Abu Hamza al-Masri was convicted by a jury in New York on eleven counts. He was involved in an attack in Yemen in December 1998 that resulted in the deaths of four hostages and provided material support to terrorists, including al Qaeda and the Taliban. In March, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith was convicted of conspiring to kill Americans and other terrorism charges. Abu Ghaith was the son-in-law of Usama bin Laden and a senior member of al Qaeda. He was the face and voice of al Qaeda in the days and weeks after the 9/11 attacks. In both of these cases, it took more than a decade, but as a result of our integrated approach to combating terrorism, these men were brought to justice. These cases are the two most recent in a long line of successful terrorism prosecutions. Recently, we took the lessons we learned from counterterrorism and applied them to our work on national security cyber threats. In the face of escalating threats, we recognized the need to reorganize. To integrate. When I was chief of staff for Director Bob Mueller, the FBI undertook a transformation to meet the growing cyber threat. In 2011, NSD di