A new Assistant Attorney General for Legal Policy, Stephen J. Markman, has been appointed to head the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Policy, of which the Office of Information and Privacy is a part.
Sworn in to this position on October 28, Markman joins the Department with considerable experience in both legal and policy matters gained during his career as a congressional staff member. A 36-year-old native of Michigan, he obtained his undergraduate education at Duke University and received his law degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1974.
Most recently, Markman served for several years as Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution. That subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R. Utah), holds jurisdiction over FOIA-related matters in the Senate, including proposed legislation to reform the FOIA. Markman also served for a time as Deputy Chief Counsel of the full Senate Judiciary Committee.
The Office of Legal Policy was established in 1981 to serve as the principal policy staff of the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General. In addition to housing the Office of Information and Privacy, OLP holds responsibility for coordinating the selection of federal judges and for planning and implementing a wide range of policy initiatives for the Justice Department.
As the head of OLP, Assistant Attorney General Markman will oversee the Office of Information and Privacy and will serve as the presidential appointee with principal responsibility for FOIA policy matters governmentwide. He succeeds a series of interim heads of OLP who have held that position since the departure of former Assistant Attorney General Jonathan C. Rose in January 1984.
Upon being sworn in to his new position, Assistant Attorney General Markman remarked that "Attorney General Meese is firmly committed to the fair and uniform implementation of the FOIA governmentwide and I am confident that we can continue to ensure that the highest possible standards in this area are met."
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