Top lawyer in DOJ's National Security Division abruptly resigns

John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's National Security Division, abruptly resigned on Friday. Attorney General Todd Blanche commended his efforts in strengthening the nation's capacity to handle threats, both foreign and domestic. This marks the second high-ranking departure this week, following Harmeet Dhillon's resignation from the Civil Rights Division just two days after Democrats gained control of the House and Senate.

Another Trump appointee, U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones of the Southern District of Florida, also resigned on Friday. Eisenberg's tenure at the National Security Division, which has seen a significant loss of career staff recently, was relatively low-key. This division, established post-9/11, manages counterterrorism, counterintelligence, export control enforcement, and reviews foreign investments in U.S. companies.

The division recently oversaw the redaction of millions of pages of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, a task expanded to include other Justice Department entities, leading to criticism over the inadvertent release of victims' information. The National Security Division has also been involved in high-profile leak investigations targeting journalists and is currently handling the first-ever case in the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, which uses classified evidence to deport suspected alien terrorists.