Aaron Mortimer ZebleyMark Maske & Adam Goldman

''Washington Post'' (September 11, 2014). is an American attorney and former

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

special agent who was the deputy

special counsel In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exi ...

of the

Special Counsel investigation In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to Criminal investigation, investigate, and potentially prosecution, prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing fo ...

headed by Robert Mueller. He was the former chief of staff to Mueller at the FBI. Zebley followed Mueller from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to the law firm

WilmerHale Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, also known as Hale & Dorr and WilmerHale, is an international law firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. It is co-headquartered in Washington, D.C. and Boston. It was formed in 2004 thr ...

and also subsequently left when Mueller resigned to become the

, along with

James L. Quarles James L. Quarles III is an American attorney who was an assistant special prosecutor in the Watergate Special Prosecution's Office, and served as an Assistant Special Counsel for Russian interference in 2016 United States elections under Robe ...

Early life and education

Zebley graduated from the

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William I ...

''magna cum laude'' and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

in 1992. He graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1996.Former FBI Chief of Staff Aaron Zebley to Join WilmerHale
(press release), WilmerHale (March 31, 2014). After working at

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe Orrick is an international law firm founded in San Francisco, California. The firm advises on transactions, litigation and regulatory matters for venture-backed companies, public companies, E&I funds, financial institutions and governments. Histo ...

from July to December 1997, he would enter and graduate from the FBI Academy in 1998.

Career

Zebley was an FBI special agent working for the bureau's Counterterrorism Division for seven years.Rebecca Tan & Alex War
Meet the all-star legal team who may take down Trump
''Vox'' (June 15, 2017). As an FBI agent, Zebley investigated al-Qaeda's bombings of U.S. embassies in east Africa in 1998, and after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

was assigned to the FBI's PENTTBOM team, which investigated the terrorists responsible for the attacks.Cullen Couch
When the Constitution and National Security Interests Collide: Investigations and Trials in a Post-9/11 World
''UVA Lawyer'' (fall 2007). Zebley was on the arrest team that captured one of the embassy bombers, Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, in October 1999 in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. Zebley was one of the investigators who built the case against

Zacarias Moussaoui Zacarias Moussaoui (Arabic: زكريا موسوي, '; born May 30, 1968) is a French member of al-Qaeda who pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to conspiring to kill citizens of the United States as part of the September 11 attacks. He is se ...

, who was ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment. Zebley was a summary witness in Moussaoui's penalty proceeding, testifying to the ways in which Moussaoui's confession in 2005 could have helped track down the September 11 hijacks in the month before the attacks, had he provided truthful information when first arrested. Zebley later joined the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

, where he was first an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...

-based National Security and Terrorism Unit and later a senior counsel in the

National Security Division National Security Division, or Bahagian Keselamatan Negara (BKN), is a senior grouping within the Malaysian government which meets infrequently. According to a United States Embassy telegram leaked by WikiLeaks in 2011, BKN is regarded as Malaysia' ...

, holding the position of senior counselor. Zebley served as chief of staff to Robert Mueller when Mueller was Director of the FBI and in 2014 followed Mueller to the law firm WilmerHale, where he served as partner for three years. While in private practice at WilmerHale, Zebley was an expert in

cybersecurity Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, t ...

and represented a wide range of clients, including Justin Cooper, a former aide to

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

, and the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. In May 2017, after Mueller was appointed as

investigating Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, Zebley resigned from WilmerHale to join the Special Counsel investigative team. Zebley rejoined WilmerHale in October 2019. On June 2, 2021, the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

announced that Zebley would be teaching a course entitled "The Mueller Report and the Role of the Special Counsel" during the fall semester, along with former Special Counsel Robert Mueller and former Special Counsel's Office members James L. Quarles and Andrew D. Goldstein.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zebley, Aaron Assistant United States Attorneys College of William & Mary alumni Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Living people Members of the 2017 Special Counsel investigation team People in counterterrorism University of Virginia School of Law alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe people

Early life and education

Career

See also

References