PROFILE: Holder to lead US law enforcement, terror response

Dec 1, 2008, 19:28 GMT

Washington - Eric Holder is set to become the first African- American to head the US Justice Department, pledging to restore balance in an agency that came under heavy criticism in past years for its approach to the war against terrorism.

Holder, 57, was named as the United States' next attorney general Monday by president-elect Barack Obama, who takes office January 20.

Holder will become the nation's top law enforcement official in the first Democratic-led administration since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

He brings experience as both a lawyer and judge to the Justice Department, whose reputation has suffered around the world as it oversaw a dramatic and controversial expansion of the country's domestic response to terrorism since 2001.

Holder served as deputy attorney general in former president Bill Clinton's administration and also as attorney general for a brief period under President George W Bush, pending the Senate's confirmation of John Ashcroft to the post.

The 2001 attacks prompted a massive overhaul of how the United States deals with domestic terror threats, including the creation of the Homeland Security Department and broad new powers to detain suspects and listen in on the conversations of private citizens without the need for a warrant.

In accepting the nomination Monday, Holder promised to balance the new security concerns with human rights and civil liberties.

'It is incumbent those of us who lead the department to ensure not only that the nation is safe but also that our laws and traditions are respected. There is not a tension between those two,' he said.

Holder's first priority will likely be the closure of the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which has become a lightning rod for criticism of the US' management of the global war against terrorism.

Both Obama and his Republican rival John McCain promised to close the facility during the presidential campaign. But that leaves Holder with the unenviable task of finding a new home for more than 250 inmates still being held.

Only two detainees have been convicted of a crime under the controversial military commissions set up by the Bush administration. Obama has been critical of the treatment of detainees but provided few details on how he would prosecute the remaining suspects. Media reports suggest he hopes to try many of them in US civilian courts.

About 60 of the remaining inmates have already been cleared for release by the Pentagon, but fears of political reprisals in their home countries have made it difficult for President George W Bush's administration to find them new homes.

Holder is not without controversy. In 2001 his career was nearly derailed over his role in the pardon of Marc Rich, a fugitive financier whose former wife had contributed to Democratic campaign coffers, on the last day of Clinton's presidency.