Draft:Jack Dever

Dever was born on January 31, 1969 in Danbury, Connecticut.^[2] He is the son of John P. Dever, Sr., PhD, an Army Officer and Spanish Professor formerly of Chicago, IL and María del Carmen Luengo Santaló from Madrid, Spain.^[3] He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Notre Dame in 1991 and holds a Doctor of Juridical Science degree in Cybersecurity Law.^[4]

Dever began his military career as a Military Intelligence Korean linguist in the United States Army and was later commissioned into the Judge Advocate General's Corps. His deployments and overseas assignments included Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba, Nigeria, Oman, Kuwait, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Uzbekistan, Bosnia, Horn of Africa, Yemen, South Korea, Thailand, Mali, Australia, and Micronesia.^[5]

In 1999, he deployed to Bosnia with the 25th Infantry Division. He assisted with international war crime tribunals for alleged war criminals from the former Yugoslavia and worked to recover and identify remains from mass graves.

In 2002, he was assigned to the combined joint anti-terrorism task force Horn of Africa which included Yemen, Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan. For the first part of the deployment, he lived aboard the USS Mount Whitney in the Gulf of Aden and conducted counterterrorism missions via helicopter insertion. The task force eventually moved into quarters at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, a former French Foreign Legion base.

In 2003, Dever was stationed at the Military District of Washington and requested transfer to Iraq. In 2004, while serving as an ARCENT JAG Officer in the Iraq War, he was the rear gunner on an SUV convoy traveling along Route Irish between Camp Victory and Baghdad International Airport.^[6] The convoy had recently left the Al-Faw Palace when it came under enemy fire and he was wounded.^[7] Several months later, while stationed at Camp Victory, Dever was injured by the impact of a Katyusha rocket. He remained in-theater and continued providing legal advice to military operations. He received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals.^[8]

After leaving active duty, Dever became Assistant General Counsel at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Security Law Division. He advised on global Tier 1 operations against terrorist organizations, nation states, and cyber criminals. He led Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) reviews for the FBI. He was later appointed Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) where he prosecuted espionage and data exfiltration cases.^[9]

Dever then joined the private sector and became a senior executive at General Electric (GE) where he served as Global Crisis Management Leader. He then became a senior executive at several of the world's largest financial institutions, including GE Capital, Wells Fargo, and UBS.^[10] Upon leaving the financial sector, Dever founded the Veteran-owned cybersecurity firm Lockhaven Solutions^[11] and served as CEO.^[12] He also co-chaired Task Force Movement,^[13] an initiative to improve the nation's cybersecurity while enhancing employment opportunities for Veterans^[14][15]and co-founded the Center for National Security and Human Rights Law^[16] at Chicago-Kent College of Law.^[17]

In 2025, President Donald Trump nominated Dever to serve as General Counsel to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. His hearing before the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence was held on June 25, 2025^[18] and he was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 7, 2025.^{[19][20] [21][22][23]}

On November 11, 2025, Dever received the Rev. William Corby, C.S.C. Distinguished Military Alumni Award from the University of Notre Dame.^[24][25][26]

He speaks fluent Spanish and conversational Korean.^[27]