Arif Alikhan
Encyclopedia
Arif Alikhan is currently a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Homeland Security and Counterterrorism at the National Defense University
(NDU), College of International Security Affairs in Washington, D.C. He currently teaches and lectures on a variety subjects involving homeland and national security issues for U.S. military and civilian security professionals. and is a recognized expert on U.S. government homeland security and counter terrorism policies.
Alikhan is a former appointee to the Obama Administration where he served as Assistant Secretary for Policy Development at the United States Department of Homeland Security
. He is also a former Deputy Mayor of Homeland Security and Public Safety
for the City of Los Angeles
, former federal prosecutor with the United States Attorneys Office in Los Angeles, and a former senior adviser to Attorneys General John Ashcroft
and Alberto Gonzales
while serving at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
(mother) and India
(father) in the late 1960s. He is one of several accomplished South Asian Americans appointed to the Obama Administration. and is a highly regarded public servant in the homeland security, counter terrorism, and law enforcement fields.
, United States District Judge, Central District of California, in Los Angeles and then as an associate for the law firm of Irell and Manella, in Century City.
Alikhan was recognized by the United States Department of Justice
for his superior performance while serving as the first Chief of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles. Based on his work in Los Angeles, he was recruited to work in Washington D.C. to as a Senior Adviser to both Attorney General John Ashcroft
and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
to handle cybercrime
and intellectual property
initiatives. Alikhan has received awards from numerous federal law enforcement agencies including the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, and NASA Office of Inspector General.
to replace Maurice Suh, currently a partner at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher in Los Angeles. Upon his appointment as Deputy Mayor, then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
praised Alikhan's service in a public statement indicating:
As Deputy Mayor, Alikhan was responsible for overseeing the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Fire Department, Emergency Management Department, their combined budgets of over $2 billion, and managing over $400 million in federal and state grants.
Alikhan received high marks for his accomplishments as Deputy Mayor of the City of Los Angeles from many including Mayor Villaraigosa. In June 2009, the Mayor stated that:
Alikhan's efforts to hire 1,000 new LAPD officers resulted in the highest deployment level in LAPD history before Alikhan left for Washington. Additionally, Mr. Alikhan significantly advanced the Mayor’s emergency preparedness and counter-terrorism initiatives, substantially increased cooperation with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, led the effort to create the L.A. Fire Department's Professional Standards Division, and helped secure over $400 million in homeland security and public safety grants for the Los Angeles region. He was also a key coordinator and government official at major emergencies including numerous wild fires and the 2008 Chatsworth train collision
that killed 25 people and injured over 300 train passengers.
Alikhan was appointed to DHS in June 2009 and is responsible for developing and coordinating department-wide policy issues involving the vast array of missions assigned to DHS. His team of scientists, analysts, attorneys, and economists work on issues ranging from counter-terrorism and information sharing to emergency management and cyber security.
Alikhan has served on several boards including the University of Southern California's CREATE Center for Homeland Security Government Advisory Committee. He was also an Adjunct Professor of Law at USC's Gould School of Law where he taught criminal procedure. In 1997, he was named one of the top 40 California attorneys under the age of 40 by the Los Angeles Daily Journal and California Law Business.
National Defense University
The National Defense University is an institution of higher education funded by the United States Department of Defense, intended to facilitate high-level training, education, and the development of national security strategy. It is chartered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with Navy Vice Admiral...
(NDU), College of International Security Affairs in Washington, D.C. He currently teaches and lectures on a variety subjects involving homeland and national security issues for U.S. military and civilian security professionals. and is a recognized expert on U.S. government homeland security and counter terrorism policies.
Alikhan is a former appointee to the Obama Administration where he served as Assistant Secretary for Policy Development at the United States Department of Homeland Security
United States Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the United States and protectorates from and responding to...
. He is also a former Deputy Mayor of Homeland Security and Public Safety
Deputy Mayor
Deputy mayor is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official in many local governments. Many elected deputy mayors are members of the city council who are given the title and serve as acting mayor in the mayor's absence...
for the City of Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, former federal prosecutor with the United States Attorneys Office in Los Angeles, and a former senior adviser to Attorneys General John Ashcroft
John Ashcroft
John David Ashcroft is a United States politician who served as the 79th United States Attorney General, from 2001 until 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush. Ashcroft previously served as the 50th Governor of Missouri and a U.S...
and Alberto Gonzales
Alberto Gonzales
Alberto R. Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales was appointed to the post in February 2005 by President George W. Bush. Gonzales was the first Hispanic Attorney General in U.S. history and the highest-ranking Hispanic government official ever...
while serving at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
Early life
Arif Alikhan was born in 1968 after his parents emigrated to North America from PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
(mother) and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
(father) in the late 1960s. He is one of several accomplished South Asian Americans appointed to the Obama Administration. and is a highly regarded public servant in the homeland security, counter terrorism, and law enforcement fields.
Education
Alikhan graduated cum laude from the University of California at Irvine in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Ecology. He studied criminal justice, criminology and legal studies and conducted research in environmental analysis. He was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity (Mu Delta) and was appointed Commissioner of Campus Safety by the Associated Students of UC Irvine (ASUCI). He later attended Loyola Law School, Los Angeles where he graduated with honors and was the Chief Articles Editor of the Loyola Law Review. Admitted to the California State Bar in 1993, he subsequently worked as a Judicial Law Clerk for the Honorable Ronald S.W. LewRonald S.W. Lew
Ronald S.W. Lew is a U.S. District Court Judge for the Central District of California in the Ninth Circuit. Outside of Hawaii, Judge Lew was the first Chinese-American appointed to the federal bench after being appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987...
, United States District Judge, Central District of California, in Los Angeles and then as an associate for the law firm of Irell and Manella, in Century City.
Career
Alikhan's career in law enforcement, public safety, and homeland security also included service as a Technical Reserve Police Officer in Newport Beach, California, prosecuting juveniles while working in the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, and prosecuting misdemeanor crimes with the Anaheim City Attorney's Office. He then served 10 years with the U.S. Department of Justice as a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles from 1997 to 2005 and then as a senior official at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. from 2005 through 2006.Alikhan was recognized by the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
for his superior performance while serving as the first Chief of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles. Based on his work in Los Angeles, he was recruited to work in Washington D.C. to as a Senior Adviser to both Attorney General John Ashcroft
John Ashcroft
John David Ashcroft is a United States politician who served as the 79th United States Attorney General, from 2001 until 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush. Ashcroft previously served as the 50th Governor of Missouri and a U.S...
and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Alberto Gonzales
Alberto R. Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales was appointed to the post in February 2005 by President George W. Bush. Gonzales was the first Hispanic Attorney General in U.S. history and the highest-ranking Hispanic government official ever...
to handle cybercrime
CyberCrime
CyberCrime was an innovative, weekly America television program on TechTV that focused on the dangers facing computer users. Filmed in San Francisco, California, the show was hosted by Alex Wellen and Jennifer London...
and intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
initiatives. Alikhan has received awards from numerous federal law enforcement agencies including the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, and NASA Office of Inspector General.
Appointment
Arif Alikhan was appointed Deputy Mayor of Homeland Security in Los Angeles in September 2006 by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio VillaraigosaAntonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa , born Antonio Ramón Villar, Jr., is the 41st and current Mayor of Los Angeles, California, the third Mexican American to have ever held office in the city of Los Angeles and the first in over 130 years. He is also the current president of the United States Conference of...
to replace Maurice Suh, currently a partner at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher in Los Angeles. Upon his appointment as Deputy Mayor, then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Alberto Gonzales
Alberto R. Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales was appointed to the post in February 2005 by President George W. Bush. Gonzales was the first Hispanic Attorney General in U.S. history and the highest-ranking Hispanic government official ever...
praised Alikhan's service in a public statement indicating:
Arif Alikhan's appointment as Deputy Mayor for Homeland Security and Public Safety is outstanding news for the city of Los Angeles, though we will certainly miss having him as part of the Department of Justice team. Arif has served with distinction as both an Assistant U.S. Attorney and as Vice Chairman of the Intellectual Property Task Force. His leadership within the Department has dramatically increased the profile of intellectual property and cyber crime issues, and he has been highly effective in overseeing the national Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) Program.
Arif leaves behind a legacy of hard work, innovative thinking, and dedication to the rule of law.
These are characteristics that he will bring to his new position, and the city of Los Angeles will be
fortunate to have him.
As Deputy Mayor, Alikhan was responsible for overseeing the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Fire Department, Emergency Management Department, their combined budgets of over $2 billion, and managing over $400 million in federal and state grants.
Alikhan received high marks for his accomplishments as Deputy Mayor of the City of Los Angeles from many including Mayor Villaraigosa. In June 2009, the Mayor stated that:
Arif Alikhan has been instrumental in advancing my administration's central priorities of preparing Los Angeles to respond to natural disasters and against the threat of terrorism, increasing public safety, and putting 1,000 new LAPD officers on our streets,” said Mayor Villaraigosa. “I wish him luck as he assumes this new role with the Obama Administration, and look forward to his continued efforts to help protect Los Angeles and our nation's cities.
Alikhan's efforts to hire 1,000 new LAPD officers resulted in the highest deployment level in LAPD history before Alikhan left for Washington. Additionally, Mr. Alikhan significantly advanced the Mayor’s emergency preparedness and counter-terrorism initiatives, substantially increased cooperation with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, led the effort to create the L.A. Fire Department's Professional Standards Division, and helped secure over $400 million in homeland security and public safety grants for the Los Angeles region. He was also a key coordinator and government official at major emergencies including numerous wild fires and the 2008 Chatsworth train collision
2008 Chatsworth train collision
The Chatsworth train collision occurred at 16:22 PDT on Friday September 12, 2008, when a Union Pacific freight train and a Metrolink commuter train collided head-on in the Chatsworth district of Los Angeles, California, in the United States...
that killed 25 people and injured over 300 train passengers.
Alikhan was appointed to DHS in June 2009 and is responsible for developing and coordinating department-wide policy issues involving the vast array of missions assigned to DHS. His team of scientists, analysts, attorneys, and economists work on issues ranging from counter-terrorism and information sharing to emergency management and cyber security.
Alikhan has served on several boards including the University of Southern California's CREATE Center for Homeland Security Government Advisory Committee. He was also an Adjunct Professor of Law at USC's Gould School of Law where he taught criminal procedure. In 1997, he was named one of the top 40 California attorneys under the age of 40 by the Los Angeles Daily Journal and California Law Business.