William Welch II is the former Chief of the Public Integrity Section of 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 State ...

(DOJ). Welch is noted chiefly for his role in the prosecution of former

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Ted Stevens Theodore Fulton Stevens Sr. (November 18, 1923 – August 9, 2010) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a U.S. Senator from Alaska from 1968 to 2009. He was the longest-serving Republican Senator in history at the time he left o ...

and the prosecution of

U.S. intelligence community The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

s for alleged leaks to the press. Welch resigned on April 16, 2012, amid allegations that the DOJ

Public Integrity Section The Public Integrity Section (PIN) is a section of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice charged with combating political corruption at all levels of government through the prosecution of corrupt federal, state, and local elected ...

had purposefully hid

exculpatory evidence Exculpatory evidence is evidence favorable to the defendant in a criminal trial that exonerates or tends to exonerate the defendant of guilt. It is the opposite of inculpatory evidence, which tends to present guilt. In many countries, including ...

in the case against Stevens.

Education

Welch graduated from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 1985, and from the

Northwestern University School of Law Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a private research university. It is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law has been ranked among the top 14, or "T14" law scho ...

in Chicago in 1988.

Role in Department of Justice

Welch spent much of his career in U.S. Department of Justice service. After graduation from law school, Welch moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, serving for several years in the Tax Division of the DOJ. Following this he served as Assistant US Attorney, in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

, where he specialized on drug and money-laundering cases. In 1995, Welch was transferred to the

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

US Attorneys Office. In 2006, he moved to Washington, and took the job of acting chief of the DOJ Public Integrity Section. By 2007, he was confirmed in the role of Chief of the Section.

Noted cases

During the Bush administration, Welch's most famous case involved the

ethics prosecution. During the Obama administration, Welch's portfolio focused on Bush-era investigations which had failed to lead to actual charges. Among these, Welch is most noted for using the 1917 Espionage Act to prosecute two U.S. intelligence officers speaking to the press, in effect prosecuting the officers for whistleblowing.

Ted Stevens Case

Assistant Attorney General Welch was one of six lawyers investigated between 2009-2012 in relation to the botched ethics prosecution of former Alaska Senator

. Welch stepped down briefly over the controversy in October 2009, returning to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he'd worked as an assistant US Attorney before coming to Washington. After one month, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, head of the DOJ Criminal Division, reinstated Welch, placing him in charge of pursuing national security leaks. In 2012, the Special Counsel report on the case was released. It said, :''The investigation and prosecution of U.S. Senator Ted Stevens were permeated by the systematic concealment of significant exculpatory evidence which would have independently corroborated Senator Stevens's defense and his testimony, and seriously damaged the testimony and credibility of the government's key witness.''

Prosecution of U.S. intelligence leaks

Thomas Drake case

Welch oversaw the case against Thomas Drake, claiming that Mr. Drake had leaked national security secrets to the press; Mr. Drake was subsequently charged with ten felony counts, the principal charges being forwarded under the

Espionage Act of 1917 The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law enacted on June 15, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code (War ...

. Writing about the case in '' The Washingtonian'', commentator Shane Harris noted Welch's tenacity in the case and his opponents' characterization of him as "...a

piranha A piranha or piraña (, , or ; or , ) is one of a number of freshwater fish in the family Serrasalmidae, or the subfamily Serrasalminae within the tetra family, Characidae in order Characiformes. These fish inhabit South American rivers, ...

,... a man with 'tunnel vision', ... a 'hard ass' who tends to view his targets in the worst possible light." Harris quotes

Steven Aftergood Steven Aftergood is a critic of U.S. government secrecy policy. He directs the Federation of American Scientists project on Government Secrecy and is the author of the Federation publication '' Secrecy News''. Life and career Aftergood has a BS ...

, a noted critic on US Secrecy Policy, as saying, "It seems clear that the Obama Administration misjudged the merits of its case against Drake, pursuing minor infractions with disproportionate zeal."

Jeffrey Sterling case

Welch oversaw the ongoing case against former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling. Sterling was indicted in December 2010 under the

on charges he had violated national security provisions by disclosing classified information to a New York Times journalist,

James Risen James Risen (born April 27, 1955) is an American journalist for ''The Intercept''. He previously worked for ''The New York Times'' and before that for ''Los Angeles Times''. He has written or co-written many articles concerning U.S. government ...

, specifically being information used in the book ''

State of War A declaration of war is a formal act by which one state announces existing or impending war activity against another. The declaration is a performative speech act (or the signing of a document) by an authorized party of a national government, in ...

''. The information allegedly leaked addressed a secret program related to weapons of mass destruction proliferation.

Departure from government service

Welch was reprimanded for failure to remit required

discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

evidence in the Stevens case as well as the intelligence leaks prosecutions. On April 17, 2012, William Welch left his job the Department of Justice. As of September 2022, Welch is Deputy General Counsel at Voya Financial.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Welch, William, II Living people American lawyers United States Department of Justice officials Year of birth missing (living people)