Kellen Dwyer

Kellen Dwyer is co-leader of Alston & Bird’s National Security & Digital Crimes practice. He previously served in the Justice Department in several cyber and national security roles. As an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, he obtained a computer hacking indictment against Julian Assange and represented the United States at Assange’s extradition hearings in London. He received the Attorney General’s Award for the trial of a Russian hacker who helped develop malware used in one of the largest data breaches in U.S. history. Kellen also prosecuted Aleksey Burkov, a Russian hacker whose arrest in Israel triggered a high-profile tug-of-war between the U.S. and Russia.

As deputy assistant attorney general in the National Security Division, Kellen led the department’s national security and cybersecurity policy on issues such as encryption, cryptocurrency, ransomware, GDPR/Schrems II, breach notification, supply-chain security, and foreign election interference. He testified before Congress, represented the DOJ on the National Security Council, advised Cyber Command, approved sanctions, and helped coordinate a whole-of-government response to major cyber incidents, including the SolarWinds breach. Kellen also oversaw the division’s appellate unit, which advised on sensitive investigations and litigated before the Supreme Court, the circuit courts, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review.

Kellen teaches cyber-crime at George Mason Law School. He clerked on the Ninth Circuit and the Southern District of New York.