Mr. Patrick Hovakimian
Nominee for the Position of
General Counsel, Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Statement for the Record
Before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
July 22, 2020

Acting Chairman Rubio, Vice Chairman Warner, and distinguished Members of the
Committee, thank you for taking the time this morning to consider my nomination to serve as
General Counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. I am honored to appear
before you today.
I also extend my thanks to the President for the opportunity to serve, to Director Ratcliffe
for his confidence in me, and to my current bosses, Attorney General Bill Barr and Deputy
Attorney General Jeff Rosen, for their support throughout this nomination process.
Acting Chairman Rubio and Vice Chairman Warner, I am a first-generation American
and a proud civil servant. My background and family experiences shape who I am today and
compel me to put my hand up when called upon to serve. This great Country of ours has given
me everything. My parents, Eric Ara Hovakimian and Lida Hovakimian, came to the San
Francisco Bay Area, built a life, raised two boys, and instilled in me a deep appreciation of the
freedom and rights our Country provides, and an equally strong duty to serve. Without their love
and support, I simply would not be here today. I thank my mom, who is watching from home;
my dad, who I know is watching from above; my entire extended family; and the many close
friends – both from back home in California and those from later in life – who have supported
me and lived life beside me through the years. Many wrote, called, and expressed a wish to be
here today. To them I say thank you, and I will do my very best not only today, but always, to
make you proud.
I’ve been fortunate in my career. After graduation from law school, I joined an
international law firm, where I worked alongside and learned from some of the finest lawyers
anywhere in the world. And after a few years at the law firm and after clerking for Judge J.L.
Edmondson of the Eleventh Circuit, I accepted what I thought could well be the last job I ever

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had. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney in San Diego, I worked alongside talented federal agents and
prosecutors, building cases from the ground up. I handled matters in diverse contexts and across
the federal criminal code, including investigating international drug trafficking organizations and
white-collar and public-corruption matters. For the last couple of years I served as a prosecutor,
I worked primarily on a series of cases involving a former foreign defense contractor, his firm,
and the United States Navy.
Investigating and litigating this multinational defense procurement fraud and bribery
series of cases was rewarding work, to say the least. It implicated our national security interests
and those of our military. Working hand-in-hand with law enforcement agents and military
personnel, it felt like we were standing up for the interests of the United States. It felt righteous,
because it was.
I look back on those days fondly, and I carry the experiences with me. They motivate me
to continue to serve. Just as I have great respect for the dedicated professionals who comprise
our federal law enforcement agencies, I have tremendous respect for the members of our
Intelligence Community. They too do righteous work. They work, every day, on behalf of the
United States, often in unheralded if not completely anonymous ways. I am here because I want
to support them and their mission. I am here because I want to do what I can, particularly at this
consequential time, to ensure that the women and men of the IC get the support they need to help
keep our Country safe and secure.
I’ve seen the intelligence community’s work in action. Serving as the Department of
Justice’s director of Counter-Transnational Organized Crime, I was an avid consumer of IC
products. FBI and CIA briefings on counternarcotics efforts, terrorism finance, country-specific
and region-specific threats, and the various interconnections between nation-states and organized

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crime around the globe. As I worked to implement the substance of these briefings into action, I
experienced firsthand the value the IC provides and the mission-critical nature of the work they
do.
I’ve also seen firsthand the way the law interacts with the activities of the Intelligence
Community. As an Associate Deputy Attorney General, I regularly participate in
counterintelligence and counterterrorism briefings, consult on operational matters, and review
investigation and litigation strategy in national-security cases.
The General Counsel position that I have been nominated for is at its core, of course, a
legal job. In addition to the everyday tasks that any chief legal officer would perform, I regard
the overarching duties of the ODNI General Counsel to be, in principal, threefold.
First, the General Counsel must speak truth to decision makers. Everything else flows
from that basic proposition. The only legal advice I will ever give is that which comports
entirely with the Constitution of the United States and the laws of the United States. Even when
it results in outcomes or advice that others may not want to hear, I will only ever deliver what I
consider to be lawful, objective, clear, and complete advice and counsel. My oath to the
Constitution, if I’m confirmed, would require it, and my professional judgment and moral
compass demand it.
Second, the General Counsel must promote transparency because the IC is statutorily
obligated to keep Congress fully and currently informed of intelligence activities. For me,
cultivating a relationship with the congressional intelligence committees is of paramount
importance. Congressional oversight provides the American people, through their elected
representatives, a channel through which to review and to evaluate. Specifically with regard to
the intelligence activities of the IC, thorough and robust congressional oversight is vitally

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important. The IC engages in activities critical to the national security of the United States and
with implications on many of the other important values – civil liberties and privacy, for
example – that we as Americans rightly prize. As such, the congressional intelligence
committees must have direct and thorough oversight of the IC’s intelligence activities and
practices. If confirmed, I will work with the Director and other senior leadership to facilitate
and maintain a cooperative process and relationship with this Committee.
Third, the General Counsel is uniquely situated to promote collaboration across IC legal
offices, and should do so. Consistent with and in furtherance of the ODNI’s intelligenceintegration mission, close collaboration among IC general counsel offices is essential to ensure
IC activities are conducted lawfully and to protect the full panoply of statutory rights for IC
employees. The General Counsel should take a leading role in promoting this collaboration. If
confirmed, I will attempt to do just that.
Public service is a high privilege. I remember standing in court and saying, for the first
time, “Good morning your Honor. Patrick Hovakimian, on behalf of the United States.” That
feeling never got old. If I am confirmed, I’ll have a different but similarly significant
opportunity to serve. I look forward, if confirmed, to leading ODNI’s Office of the General
Counsel and working together with the talented professionals of the Intelligence Community.
Acting Chairman Rubio, Vice Chairman Warner, and Members of the Committee, thank
you for your consideration of my nomination. I look forward to your questions.

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