Faisal Gill

Faisal Gill
principal counsel Critical Infrastructure Protection Board
Personal details
Born 1972 (age 43–44)
Karachi, Pakistan
Political party Democratic
Alma mater American University
Profession Lawyer

Faisal Gill (Urdu: فیصل گل‎) is a Pakistani-born lawyer, administrator, government advisor and one time Republican candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates. He is most well known for what is termed "the Faisal Gill affair", involving allegations of connections to extremist Muslim groups. In July 2014, it was revealed by Glenn Greenwald through the Edward Snowden leaks that Gill was one of five United States citizens that were under NSA surveillance.

Biography

Faisal Gill was born in Karachi, Pakistan in 1972 and emigrated to the United States in 1980. He has a BA and JD from American University in Washington, DC.

After graduation he was a labor and employment attorney at a firm in Washington, DC, and then was Deputy General Counsel for Policy at the Office of Personnel Management. He then received an appointment at the White House Office of Homeland Security and then later at the Homeland Security Council as associate counsel. He also served as principal counsel to the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board under Richard Clarke.

Faisal Gill served as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Under Secretary for Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection at the Department of Homeland Security. As such, he was responsible for formulating and coordinating policy for the intelligence directorate. In this capacity, he advised the Under Secretary on policy issues ranging from intelligence policy, infrastructure protection, cyber-security and information sharing initiatives.

He also served in the United States Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps where he managed two legal offices. Later in his Navy career, he served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in Greenbelt, Maryland. He currently is a Lieutenant Commander in the US Naval Reserve serving in the litigation division of the Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy.

Faisal Gill was a managing partner of Gill & Gallinger's Washington, DC office. The firm's partners included lobbyist Asim Ghafoor. Faisal resided with his wife and children in Lake Ridge, Virginia.

Faisal was the Republican nominee for the Virginia House of Delegates in the 51st district in 2007 and was defeated by Democrat Paul Nichols in the November 6, 2007 general election.

He now lives in Winooksi, Vermont, and practices law. On March 14, 2016, he announced his candidacy as a Democrat running for one of six seats in the multi-member Chittenden Senate District of Vermont. The Vermont primary election will be held on Tuesday, August 9, 2016.

The Faisal Gill "Affair"

Gill's critics have often raised the matter of his alleged ties to violent jihadists. However, Gill's backers, most significantly Virginia state senator Ken Cuccinelli, have argued that federal investigations exonerated Gill.

Faisal Gill served as spokesman and "Director of Government Affairs" for the American Muslim Council, an organization founded and led by Abdurahman Alamoudi, who in 2003 was sentenced to 23 years in federal prison for bringing over one million dollars in cash provided by the Libyan government into the U.S. Gill served in a similar capacity as Director of Government Affairs for the Islamic Free Market Institute in 2001, an organization founded by conservative activists including Nina Reese, Grover Norquist and Randa Hudome.

The precise dates of Gill's employment by these organizations are unclear. Gill has admitted on government security forms to working at the AMC in between October 2000 and 2001, but it is not known when Gill first started work at the AMC. After being appointed by George W. Bush as a policy director for the Department of Homeland Security, Frank Gaffney of FrontPage Magazine raised questions regarding Faisal Gill's disclosure of this employment on his security clearance application as well as Gill's ties to violent jihadists. After Gaffney was able to secure a letter of inquiry from Sen. Jon Kyl, who serves as Co-Chair for Gaffney's Center for Security Policy, regarding these organizations, this inquiry resulted in Gill being sent on paid leave for 3 days in June 2004 pending the outcome of the investigation. The results of a DHS Inspector General investigation announced in August 2004 wholly vindicated Gill, stating that he had gone "above and beyond" the disclosure requirements and indicated that there was no reason to deny Faisal Gill a clearance.

The Senate Finance Committee then requested clarification on August 9 regarding the results of this investigation, Faisal Gill's qualifications for the position, his relationship with Asim Ghafoor, and several other questions.

Faisal Gill left the Department of Homeland Security in January, 2005. The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General considers the case closed.

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