Victoria Toensing

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Victoria Toensing is a partner in the Washington law firm, diGenova and Toensing. Her practice specializes in white-collar criminal defense, regulatory inquiries, and legislative advocacy. She claims "particular expertise in high-profile, media-driven matters requiring special legal and press skills." She has appeared as a legal commentator on several networks such as CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC

Toensing graduated from Indiana University (where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority) in 1962 with an education degree; she taught high-school English until she entered law school. She graduated from the University of Detroit School of Law in 1975, embarking on a career in the U. S. Attorney's office. In 1981, she became Chief Counsel to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, where she helped draft the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982.

In 1984, she joined the Reagan administration as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General, where she headed the "Terrorism Unit," the first working group in the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute terrorism-related crimes. As part of her work in the DoJ, she managed the government's legal efforts during the terrorist hijacking of TWA Flight 847, the bombing of Pan Am flight 103, and the takeover of the cruise ship Achille Lauro. She also supervised S&L fraud cases, prosecuted nuclear industry regulation cases, securities fraud, and fraud and bribery in the banking industry. In 1988, she entered private practice.

Being one of the key people to help draft the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, Toensing has been retained by a number of media organizations to give commentary on the Plame Affair. In March 2005 Toensing authored an amicus curiae brief on behalf of Matt Cooper and Judith Miller, two journalists who were subpoenaed in the Valerie Plame investigation for refusing to reveal information obtained from confidential sources. In the brief, she argued that "there exists ample evidence in the public record to cast serious doubt as to whether a crime has even been committed under the Intelligence Protection Act in the investigation underlying the attempts to secure testimony from Miller and Cooper."^{[citation needed]} She also contended that Ms. Plame didn't have a cover to blow, citing a July 23, 2004 article in the Washington Times which argued that Valerie Plame's status as an undercover CIA agent may have been known to Russian and Cuban intelligence operations prior to the article (by Robert Novak) that revealed her status as a CIA employee.^{[citation needed]}

Main article: Plame affair

Further information: Plame affair legal questions

[edit] External links

• DiGenova & Toensing, LLP Law Firm co-founded with husband Joseph E. diGenova, a former United States Attorney.
• Victoria Toensing Biography from diGenova & Toensing, LLP Law Firm website