The U.S. Department of Justice has hired a retired Marine Corps major general to direct the office in charge of bringing overseas criminal defendants to the United States for trial. This task has become very important as the work of U.S. prosecutors increasingly crosses the national borders.
According to The Jerusalem Post, an internal personnel announced that Vaughn Ary, a lawyer who was in the Marine Corps for 28 years, has been selected as a director of the department's Office of Internal Affairs. Although the appointment has become very known in headlines, a Justice Department spokesman refused to comment about Ary's new position.
Reuters also noted that, the Justice Department's Office of Internal Affairs is in the midst of a settlement in the extradition of drug kingpin, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, from Mexico. In another lawsuit, it has also sought countries, such as Switzerland and Honduras, to hand over defendants in a sweeping probe of corruption in soccer and its world governing body, FIFA.
The office is also in charge in the negotiation of the transfer of evidence across borders. This is through the agreement known as mutual legal assistance treaties.
Moreover, The New York Times reported that, the Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell of the Justice Department's Criminal Division noted in her speech, at a legal conference in Chicago on Friday, that more resources are going toward the office as a result of the boost in workload. Caldwell also expressed her excitement about the newly appointed director of the Office of Internal Affairs and claimed that the appointee is set to start on Monday.
Meanwhile, Assistant Attorney General Caldwell did not pinpoint any name for the position. The alleged director of the department's Office of Internal Affairs, Vaughn Ary, still could not be reached to give out any comments about his new charge.
