At Home in Justice

As part of his duties with the Justice Department, Viet Dinh '93 swears in new citizens at Ellis Island last fall. Joining him are President George Bush, New York Governor George Pataki, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, and then New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh '93 says he didn't enlist for wartime duty when he joined President Bush's Justice Department. But since the attacks of September 11, he's emerged as a top lieutenant in the legal war against terrorism. He has drafted key legislation broadening government surveillance powers and has become a target for critics of the administration's aggressive new detention tactics.

In fact, Dinh is no stranger to war.

Born in South Vietnam during the Tet offensive in 1968, he escaped the country by boat at the age of 10 with his mother and six siblings. After 12 days at sea, they came under fire from Malaysian navy ships. When they landed that night, his mother destroyed the boat with an ax to make sure they weren't forced out to sea again.

They eventually reached the United States and were later reunited with his father, an escapee from a Communist reeducation camp. Dinh says those experiences help explain why he chose a legal career.

"I knew and experienced how government does not work," said Dinh. "Coming to America and seeing how the system works gives me great faith in government institutions and the power of law."  

He enrolled at Harvard for both college and law school. While at Harvard, he worked to get his sister to the United States from a refugee camp in Hong Kong.

He went on to serve as special counsel to Senator Pete Domenici, a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, and special counsel to Whitewater special prosecutor Kenneth Starr before joining Georgetown University Law School's faculty in 1996.

During the 2000 presidential election stalemate, Dinh became a frequent defender of Governor Bush on cable news shows. Shortly after, he was nominated assistant attorney general at the age of 33. His eyes teared up at his Senate confirmation as Senator Domenici described his family's odyssey and his parents looked on from the audience.

As head of the Office of Policy Development, he oversees judicial nominations and screens proposed regulations. In his first few months in office, Dinh says he worked to position the office as the Justice Department think tank. After the September 11 attacks, though, his focus shifted squarely to combating terror: "Right after September 11, the president told Attorney General Ashcroft, 'You make sure this doesn't happen again,' and the attorney general turned to us to help."

That new mission meant Dinh regularly slept in his Justice Department office during the six weeks he helped draft the USA Patriot Act. He says September 11 forced the Justice Department to change the way it does its job. And he doesn't apologize for the department's more aggressive approach.

"We will do everything in our power and only that in our power to protect the security of the American people," Dinh said.

That may require arresting terrorism suspects on minor crimes, just to get them off the streets, he told an American Bar Association conference in February. His message didn't prove popular with everyone in the audience, many of whom shook their heads in disagreement as Dinh spoke.

The reception is usually warmer at gatherings of Vietnamese-Americans, who have embraced him as one of the highest-ranking Vietnamese-Americans ever to serve in the federal government.

"I do feel a special kinship," Dinh said. "If I am a role model, the community is a role model to me. It's my home and my family."

Dinh says he plans to eventually return to teaching constitutional law at Georgetown. For now, though, he's glad to be in government.

"It's an honor and a high privilege to serve in a time of need," Dinh said.

--Seth Stern '01

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