Laurie Robinson at her installation ceremony in December (file photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice).

Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson headed the Office of Justice Programs during the Clinton administration and has returned for a second round under President Barack Obama.

OJP is charged with preventing crime through research and development and managing the DOJ’s grant programs. Among the offices Robinson oversees are the National Institute of Justice, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the Office for Victims of Crime.

In an interview with Main Justice this week, Robinson talked about the changes since she headed OJP in the 1990s — the added burden of national security work on state and local law enforcement and the evolution of the Internet. Below is an edited transcript of the interview.

Main Justice: This is your second stint as the head of the Office of Justice Programs. What changes have you noticed since your return?

Laurie Robinson: In the broader landscape, there have been huge changes coming back in the Post-9/11 era. Not only has the Department changed in that time, obviously with the focus on terrorism and national security, but for our constituency — state and local juvenile justice and tribal communities, state and local law enforcement — is grappling not only with local crime but with the added duties related to homeland security. That’s particularly difficult now in a time of diminished resources, a very stark difference from when I was here in the 90s.

One of the greatest differences from when I was here before was the technology changes in early 2000, the use of the Web was really in its infancy. We now have a much greater ability to reach our constituents. The world has changed in that regard, and I think it’s given us much greater tools to do our work [with] in this regard to complete our mission, which is sharing information and really engaging with our constituents in a two-way conversation…learning from them, and then sharing learning programs, technical assistance and really engaging in [a] partnership with them.

Laurie Robinson is formally installed as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs in December (file photo by Ryan J. Reilly).

MJ: How have you seen local and state authorities dealing with those added national security challenges?

Robinson: I think it’s been a huge challenge. It’s been a huge challenge that both the last administration and the new administration and the country has grappled with. I think that state and local law enforcement has dealt with it actually very well, but that it remains, as I say, a challenge. They’re on the front lines in this country, as we saw with the Times Square episode in the last few days, you know it’s a challenge that requires alert members of the public, as we saw with the vendors in Times Square, as we saw with state and local law enforcement working hand in hand.

It doesn’t mean that in every instance everything will go like clockwork. But I think that nobody ever said that state and local law enforcement work is easy. I think that people go into this work because the seek challenges and this is one more thing on the plate.

MJ: What are the priorities you’ve set for the Office of Justice Programs?

Robinson: We don’t often have a chance to go back and have a second shot at a job, and I actually have to tell you… I never ever thought I would come back to OJP. I had to have my arm twisted to do this. I had a really nice life in academia and [Attorney General] Eric Holder really leaned on me to come back here. I’m very honored to be back here, and I don’t want to leave the impression that I’m not honored to do this. But coming back in, it’s kind of like with my eyes wide open, and say, ‘Ok. If I’m going to do it, I have some priorities here.’

There are three priorities. One — that we had to strengthen the partnerships with states, localities and the tribes. I thought that had weakened somewhat in recent years. So one of the first things I did here when I came back on Jan. 28, 2009, just a few days after the inauguration on an acting basis. I scheduled a series of listening sessions with constituent organizations across the board — juvenile justice, crime victims, domestic violence. To have them come in and tell us: what’s the agency doing well, what are we not doing well. It’s easy if you’re brand new, you’re not defensive about it.

Robinson at her installation ceremony in December (file photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice).

MJ: What did you hear back?

Robinson: Well we heard a lot of things, we heard everything from ‘You should be doing more to address pre-trial issues’ to ‘You aren’t getting your publications out quickly enough. You aren’t giving us information on rewards in a fast enough fashion. You should be more open about what kind of solicitations are out there.’ It was terrific to get that.

A lot of these groups said they hadn’t been invited in for eight years. So I thought it was really good just to open the doors and have organizations come in.

The second priority is evidence-based approaches. I think you’ve heard Eric Holder speak about this. We’ve had leading scientists nominated to lead both NIJ - National Institute of Justice - and the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Both of them - John Laub and Jim Lynch - are awaiting confirmation. I’m always an optimist, I’m hoping they’ll be confirmed within the next weeks. That will be the first time in John Lauden’s case that we’ll have had a criminologist heading the National Institute of Justice since it was created back in 1968 by the Safe Streets Act.

We’re bringing in scientists to speak at NIJ, we’re bringing in scientists to meet with the Attorney General on various topics, and very importantly we’ve launched something called the Evidence Integration Initiative. It’s about [a few] things - one of them is about producing more evidence, because there are a lot of areas in which we don’t have enough research on what really works.

[Another] part is translating the evidence for the field. You can have all types of journal articles, long articles about, for example, domestic violence. But if you’re a small town mayor in Des Moines, Iowa, you don’t have time to go the the library and read those journal articles. You would like to have a page or two that says what I should be doing on drug issues, what should I be doing about cops dealing with domestic violence.

Joye Frost, Police Officer Art Billingsley, Laurie Robinson, Award recipient Michelle Rene Corrao and Eric Holder at the the 2010 National Crime Victims' Service Awards Ceremony (photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice).

As I look back on my time in the 90s here, that’s one thing I would give myself a low mark on, that we did not do enough distilling of research. So I came back and heaped on the idea that I need to synthesize evidence better or distill it. So we put into the president’s budget request — well we recommended and he put in — two items. One of them is a what works clearinghouse on crime, and the second is a diagnostics center, or what I call a help desk.

The other piece of this is…that Congress has put so many different funding streams into OJP and the COPS office and the Office of Violence Against Women. Alone in OJP, we have over 75 different funding streams. For that mayor in Des Moines to know all those funding streams… that’s asking far too much of them. We need to have one place they can go.

My third priority is to ensure that our grants and grant process is run with integrity, and that the process is fair, transparent, and competitive. There have been issues in the past about whether the process was fully transparent and competitive. I am fully committed to working hand in hand with the Inspector General to make sure this is a process which is not only perceived as open and fair but in fact is.

All of this was not done thoroughly in the past, and we want a transparent system. I’ve written grant applications, a lot of people here have, and I want to make sure we make this a clear and easy system for our constituents. Writing grant applications is not a fun process, so we shouldn’t make it more difficult.

Assistant Attorney General Ron Weich, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson in a ceremony in December (photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice).

MJ: What sort of new programs are you seeing an interest in funding from the field and in Congress?

Robinson: I’ve actually seen far greater interest at this point than when I was here before on Capitol Hill… in funding evidence-based programs. I’ve seen [it] on both sides of the aisle, which is extraordinarily promising. As an example, Sen. Jeff Sessions…is someone [to] whom I have spoken several times about science-based approaches and he’s been extraordinarily supportive.

Particularly in times when we’re looking at tight federal budgets, people want to ensure that we’re getting the best bang of the buck in federal dollars, in federal spending. And why would we be expending money in programs which haven’t proved to make a difference, particularly in such an important area as crime?

One priority for us, in the president’s budget for 2011 [is] the proposal to devote three percent of OJP’s budget as a set aside for research and statistics. I think that proposal, if approved, would represent a powerful statement of the effect of R & D (research and development) investment by the government in recognizing that we need to invest in preventing and crime.

That’s something that the private industry does - you have to make the initial investments in order to successfully prevent and control disease, and we need to do the same thing in crime.

MJ: The stimulus package meant a lot more work for your office. How did you deal with the influx of grant applications?

Robinson: Just a few weeks after I stepped into the job last year, Congress of course passed the stimulus bill, and we were off and running with $2.7 billion dollars in new money to get out the door. I’m very proud of the fact that within about seven months we were able to get out almost 3,900 grants and get out almost 99 percent of that funding.

The way we were able to do it is that I have here at OJP a remarkable team of career staff. I’d like to particularly mention our career Deputy Assistant Attorney General Beth McGarry. There was a career staff that was in place when I walked in who were already dealing with the potential that if the Recovery Act passed, there would be an increased workload. The Recovery Act funding issued equaled in effect, the workload that OJP would have ordinarily covered in an entire year.

I was so pleased [when] at the end of the summer, when we were getting out all of those grants, [Attorney General Eric Holder] came over to thank the staff and then was willing to have his picture taken with each one of the offices. If you have the time to walk through all the offices and cubicles, you’d see people have these pictures up.

Laurie Robinson and Attorney General Eric Holder at a ceremony for Crime Victims Week in April (photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice).

MJ: How closely does the division work with other divisions across the department in relaying problems that are brought to your attention by state and local law enforcement?

Robinson: We work extremely closely with other parts of the department, ranging from the COPS office to the Office of Violence Against Women — who are our colleagues on the grant side in dealing with state and localities — to working very closely with the Criminal Division, the Deputy’s Office, the Associate’s Office.

As an example, we are on one of the working groups on Intellectual Property because of our work on that subject, working with states and localities. We participated on the executive working group that is the link to state attorneys general and state district attorneys. We have the executive office of U.S. Attorneys working in the Criminal Division. We meet regularly with the AGAC, the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee Group of U.S. Attorneys. So every Friday, I’m meeting with the component heads of the component heads, I’m meeting regularly with the Attorney General on things that he and I are working on.

So very regular communication. What that reflects is that Eric Holder has as one of his highest priorities the integration of state and local interests, integrating them into the priorities of the department.

The whole notion of the relationship and importance of that relationship with state and local law enforcement is something that he has embedded throughout the whole structure of the Justice Department. It’s not like, ‘Oh, we’ll get to you when we get to you.’ He communicates that throughout the department about the states and localities being partners in our work. It’s not an afterthought. It’s really very much integral to the way the department operates. The tone for that is really set at the top.

The Senate confirmed four Justice Department officials by unanimous consent tonight.

They are:

Laurie O. Robinson (DOJ)

-Laurie O. Robinson (Office of Justice Programs Assistant Attorney General): The OJP Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and former office chief will succeed Bush OJP head Jeffrey Sedgwick, who resigned in January. She was nominated Sept. 14. Read our previous report on Robinson here.

Carmen Ortiz (Adelphi Univ.)

-Carmen M. Ortiz (Massachusetts U.S. Attorney): The Massachusetts Assistant U.S. Attorney will replace Michael J. Sullivan, who stepped down in April to join a law firm headed by former Attorney General John Ashcroft. Read more about Ortiz here.

Ed Tarver (Tarverforgeorgiasenate.com)

-Ed Tarver (Southern District of Georgia U.S. Attorney): The Georgia state senator and partner at Augusta, Ga., law firm Hull, Towill, Norman, Barrett & Salley will succeed Edmund A. Booth Jr., who resigned earlier this month. Read more about Tarver here.

-Benjamin Wagner (Eastern District of California U.S. Attorney): The Assistant U.S. Attorney will succeed McGregor Scott, who resigned in January. Wagner was nominated Aug. 6. Read more about Wagner here.

The Senate has now confirmed 21 U.S. Attorneys. The chamber must still consider three more U.S. Attorney nominees that were reported out of committee today.

Robinson is the second Assistant Attorney General to be confirmed today. The Senate confirmed Ignacia Moreno as the next Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division earlier this evening. There are three more Assistant Attorney General nominees waiting for confirmation in the Senate, including long-stalled Dawn Johnsen for the Office of Legal Counsel.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved two Justice Department nominees at its business meeting this morning by unanimous consent.

They are:

Laurie O. Robinson (DOJ)

-Laurie O. Robinson (Office of Justice Programs Assistant Attorney General): The OJP Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and former office chief would succeed Bush OJP head Jeffrey Sedgwick, who resigned in January. She was nominated Sept. 14. Her confirmation hearing was Oct. 7. Read our previous report on the nominee here.

-Benjamin Wagner (Eastern District of California U.S. Attorney): The Assistant U.S. Attorney would succeed McGregor Scott, who resigned in January. Wagner was nominated Aug. 6. Read more about the nominee here.

The panel has now approved 19 U.S. Attorneys, including the 18 U.S. Attorneys who have been confirmed by the Senate. There are another 11 U.S. Attorney nominees who have not been considered by the committee yet.

Robinson was the last Assistant Attorney General nominee to come before the panel. She joins four Assistant Attorney General nominees, who are waiting for confirmation in the Senate.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to consider two Justice Department nominees at its business meeting Thursday.

They are:

Laurie O. Robinson (DOJ)

-Laurie O. Robinson (Office of Justice Programs Assistant Attorney General): The OJP Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and former office chief would succeed Bush OJP head Jeffrey Sedgwick, who resigned in January. She was nominated Sept. 14. Her confirmation hearing was Oct. 7. Read our previous report on the nominee here.

-Benjamin Wagner (Eastern District of California U.S. Attorney): The Assistant U.S. Attorney would succeed McGregor Scott, who resigned in January. Wagner was nominated Aug. 6. Read more about the nominee here.

After Wagner, the panel has another 11 more U.S. Attorney nominees who are queued up and ready to go. Robinson is the last Assistant Attorney General nominee to come before the committee.

The Office of Justice Programs nominee told a Senate panel today that she would make sure Justice Department grant money is used effectively if the Senate confirms her.

Laurie O. Robinson (DOJ)

Laurie O. Robinson said during the question and answer portion of a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing that Justice Department officials must be “good stewards” of the billions of taxpayer dollars that OJP allocates to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies.

“It is imperative that there be a system of internal controls and strong accountability to guard against waste, fraud and abuse,” Robinson said in her written testimony. “Building on my prior experience, this will be one of my highest priorities if confirmed, working closely with the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General.”

The OJP nominee said in her written testimony that she would also make a “What Works Clearinghouse” of summarized Justice Department research available to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to ensure that taxpayer money is going towards effective programs.

Robinson, who is currently OJP Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, was OJP Acting Assistant Attorney General from January until her nomination in September.

She previously served as the OJP Assistant Attorney General during the Clinton administration. During her leadership from 1993 to 2000, the annual appropriations for the office grew from $800 million to more than $4 billion, according to her biography.

Panel Democrats — including Sens. Ben Cardin (Md.), Arlen Specter (Pa.) and Patrick Leahy (Vt.) — praised Robinson for her past service. ”You bring a wealth of experience to this position,” said Cardin, who chaired the hearing.

Robinson would succeed Bush OJP head Jeffrey Sedgwick, who resigned in January.

Read more about Robinson here.

President Obama’s pick to lead the Office of Justice Programs is slated to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee Oct. 7 for a confirmation hearing, the panel announced today.

Laurie O. Robinson (DOJ)

Laurie O. Robinson was tapped for the post Sept. 14. She was named OJP Acting Assistant Attorney General in January and served in that capacity until her nomination. Robinson became Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General after her nomination because she cannot be a nominee and serve in an acting position at the same time.

She previously served as the OJP Assistant Attorney General from 1993 to 2000. During her tenure as President Clinton’s OJP chief, the annual appropriations for the office grew from $800 million to more than $4 billion, according to her biography.

Robinson would succeed Bush OJP head Jeffrey Sedgwick, who resigned in January.

Read more about Robinson here.

The Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed five Justice Department nominees today by unanimous consent.

They are:

Ignacia Moreno

Jenny Durkan (Law Offices of Jenny A. Durkan)

-Ignacia Moreno (Environment and Natural Resources Division Assistant Attorney General): The General Electric Co. counsel was nominated June 8. She would succeed Ronald Tenpas, who resigned in January. Read more about the nominee here.

-Jenny Durkan (Western District of Washington U.S. Attorney): The Seattle lawyer was nominated June 4. She would replace Jeffrey C. Sullivan, who has been the interim U.S. Attorney since John McKay was forced out in the 2006 U.S. Attorney purge. Read more about the nominee here.

Paul Fishman (Friedman, Kaplan, Seiler & Adelman)

-Paul Fishman (New Jersey U.S. Attorney): The New York lawyer was nominated June 4. He would replace Ralph Marra, who became acting U.S. Attorney after Chris Christie resigned in December 2008 to run for New Jersey governor. Read more about Fishman here.

-Florence Nakakuni (Hawaii U.S. Attorney): The Hawaii Assistant U.S. Attorney was nominated July 14. She would replace Bush holdover Edward H. Kubo Jr., who has been U.S. Attorney since 2001. Read more about Nakakuni here.

Deborah Gilg (Gilg, Kruger & Troia)

-Deborah Gilg (Nebraska U.S. Attorney): The Omaha lawyer was nominated July 31. She would replace Bush holdover Joe Stecher, who has been U.S. Attorney since 2007. Read more about the nominee here.

Durkan and Fishman were held over from last week at the request of Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) Read our report here.

The panel has now endorsed a total of 15 U.S. Attorney nominees. The Senate has confirmed 11 U.S. Attorneys that have been reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The panel has yet to consider eight U.S. Attorney nominees.

Moreno joins four Assistant Attorney General nominees, who were reported out of committee and are waiting for votes in the full Senate. Dawn Johnsen (Office of Legal Counsel), Thomas Perez (Civil Rights Division), Christopher Schroeder (Office of Legal Policy) and Mary L. Smith (Tax Division) were endorsed by the panel months ago. Read our report on the stalled nominees here. The panel still has to consider one more Assistant Attorney General nominee, Laurie O. Robinson, who was nominated Sept. 14 to lead the Office of Justice Programs.

Laurie O. Robinson (DOJ)

Laurie O. Robinson (Brown University) is nominated to be Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Justice Programs. If confirmed, Robinson — who is not a lawyer — would replace Bush administration OJP head Jeffrey Sedgwick, who resigned in January.

Her vitals:

• Born in Washington, D.C., in 1946.
• Has been Deputy Assistant Attorney General for OJP since Sept. 14.
• Was the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Acting Assistant Attorney General for OJP from January until earlier this month.
• Worked as a distinguished senior scholar/director of the criminology department in the master’s program at the University of Pennsylvania from 2001 until January.
• Was a consultant to Pew Charitable Trusts from May 2008 to August 2008.
• Served as a consultant to Abt Associates in Cambridge, Mass., from February 2004 to August 2004.
• Worked as a consultant to the Council of State Governments in Lexington, Ky., from August 2003 to June 2004.
• Was a consultant to Justice Management Institute in Denver, Colo., from January 2003 to July 2005.
• Worked as the president of CSR Incorporated in Arlington, Va., from January 2003 to August 2003.
• Served as the Assistant Attorney General for OJP from September 1994 to February 2000.
• Was the Associate Deputy Attorney General and Assistant Attorney General from August 1993 to September 1994.
• Worked as the director of the criminal justice section at the American Bar Association from September 1979 to August 1993. Also headed the association’s professional services division.
• Served as the assistant staff director at the criminal justice section at the American Bar Association from July 1972 to August 1979.
• Was a temporary administrative assistant at Potomac Temporaries in Alexandria, Va., from April 1972 to July 1972.
• Worked as a desk editor and reporter at the Community News Service in New York, N.Y., from September 1968 to July 1971.
• Received the Edmond J. Randolph Award at the Justice Department for Outstanding Service.

Click here for her full questionnaire.

President Obama notified the Senate of his choice to lead the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs, the White House announced tonight.

Laurie O. Robinson (DOJ)

Laurie O. Robinson was named the Acting Assistant Attorney General/Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General at OJP in January. The White House sent her nomination to the Senate tonight, but Obama announced in May that he intended to tap Robinson for the post.

She previously served as the OJP Assistant Attorney General from 1993 to 2000. During her tenure as President Clinton’s OJP chief, the annual appropriations for the office grew from $800 million in 1993 to more than $4 billion in 2000, according to her biography.

Prior to her time at DOJ, Robinson was the director of the American Bar Association’s section of criminal justice for 14 years.

If confirmed, Robinson would replace Bush OJP head Jeffrey Sedgwick, who resigned in January.