John Roth assumed the post of Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on March 10, 2014.
Mr. Roth, who previously served as Director of the Office of Criminal Investigations at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), was nominated to lead the DHS Office of Inspector General by President Barack Obama and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 6, 2014.
Prior to his move to the FDA in June 2012, Mr. Roth had a long and distinguished career with the Department of Justice (DOJ), beginning in 1987 as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. From 1994 to 1999, he was Chief of the Narcotics Section at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
From 1999 to 2004, Mr. Roth served as Section Chief at DOJ’s Criminal Division for the Narcotic and Dangerous Drugs Section and the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section. During that time, he served a detail as Senior Counsel and Team Leader for the congressionally chartered 9/11 Commission and helped to compile a monograph on terrorist financing for the Commission’s final report.
In 2004, Mr. Roth became an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, working on fraud and public corruption cases. In 2007, he served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division and became chief of staff to the Deputy Attorney General in 2008.
Mr. Roth culminated his DOJ career in Paris, France, as the department’s lead representative on the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental organization fighting against money laundering and terrorist financing.
Mr. Roth earned a B.A. and a law degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.