Alexandria Federal Prosecutor Sworn In

Job Likely to Be Made Permanent

A veteran prosecutor with experience in Northern Virginia was appointed yesterday as interim U.S. attorney in Alexandria, one of the highest-profile federal prosecutor's jobs in the country, the Justice Department announced.

Chuck Rosenberg, 45, was sworn in last night before U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III. President Bush intends to nominate Rosenberg for the job permanently, but it was unclear when that would occur, officials familiar with the selection process said.

Rosenberg, the interim U.S. attorney in Houston and a former federal prosecutor in Alexandria, succeeds Paul J. McNulty, who was sworn in yesterday as deputy attorney general after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate. McNulty had been U.S. attorney in Alexandria since 2001.

The Alexandria U.S. attorney's job has always been considered a law enforcement plum, and it grew increasingly visible after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as the Justice Department made McNulty's office a central front in terrorism prosecutions. The office won a guilty plea from Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person convicted in a U.S. courtroom on charges stemming from Sept. 11, and is now trying to convince a jury to execute him.

Other prominent cases in Alexandria have included the prosecutions of John Walker Lindh, a Californian convicted of fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan, and of a group of Muslim men convicted of training overseas for holy war against the United States. The office also has been known to handle highly publicized espionage cases such as the Aldrich H. Ames and Robert P. Hanssen cases.

Rosenberg declined to comment last night on the selection process.

Law enforcement sources have said Rosenberg was the favored candidate to replace McNulty in part because his selection would provide continuity in terrorism prosecutions and national security. A Justice Department news release yesterday said Rosenberg has focused on counterterrorism, counterintelligence and national security matters in recent years.

He has held the Houston post for nine months and previously served in a variety of high-profile jobs at the Justice Department and the FBI in Washington. They included chief of staff for Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey, counselor to then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft and counsel to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III.

In the 1990s, Rosenberg worked as a prosecutor in Alexandria and Richmond and specialized in financial fraud crimes, violent crimes and espionage cases.

The U.S. attorney's office in Alexandria serves the eastern half of Virginia, including all of Northern Virginia and Richmond, Norfolk and Newport News.