Government
Aug. 9, 2002
U.S. Attorney Chooses Top Aides
SAN FRANCISCO - New U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan has drawn from office insiders and longtime prosecutors to begin retooling his management team.
Ryan, who previously selected 23-year veteran prosecutor Ben Burch as chief of the criminal division, announced Wednesday his selection of Dennis Michael Nerney to lead a new counter-terrorism unit and Jeffrey Cole and Jonathan Howden to head up his Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.
The appointments make clear Ryan's intent to focus on drug organizations and pursue terrorism within the Northern District.
Nerney has been an assistant U.S. attorney since 1971 and is a retired colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. He served as a military judge and has "extensive experience in military intelligence," according to a prepared statement by Ryan.
The new unit will implement Justice Department programs aimed at disrupting terrorist activities inside the United States, according to the statement.
Nerney successfully prosecuted Larry Layton for the murder of Rep. Leo Ryan during the Jonestown killing of Peoples Temple members in 1978.
Cole, who will serve as chief of the OCDEF, has been a member of the unit since 1999 and second-in-command since 1998. He has extensive experience in the prosecution of international drug organizations and illegal exportation of weapons technology.
He was a special prosecutor for the Alaska attorney general's office for 10 years before becoming an assistant U.S. attorney in San Francisco.
Howden, who will be deputy chief of the OCDEF unit, has been an assistant U.S. attorney since 1986. He has specialized in computer hacking and intellectual property issues.
From 1980 to 1986, he was a prosecutor for the antitrust division of the Justice Department.
Burch, who began as chief of the criminal division last month, has been a federal prosecutor since 1979. He served as chief of the division from 1992 to 1995 and has been senior litigation counsel and chief of the Oakland branch office since 2001.
Burch has handled numerous white collar and public corruption cases in the district.
Ryan, a former San Francisco Superior Court judge, was confirmed by the Senate on July 26 and was sworn in Aug. 2. Earlier this week he announced the formation of a securities fraud hotline by the FBI and Securities and Exchange Commission. The goal is to get corporate employees to blow the whistle on bosses allegedly engaged in fraud, theft and other misconduct.
Pamela Mac Lean
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