FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, February 12, 2015
MEDIA CONTACT: Caitlin Conant | 202-224-5190
Portman Names Brian Callanan Staff Director of Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI)
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) today announced that Brian Callanan will serve as Staff Director and General Counsel of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), which Portman will chair. A former Portman staffer, Callanan was most recently a litigator at King & Spalding in Washington, D.C., where he focused on appellate matters and cases involving federal regulatory agencies.
“During my first two years in the Senate, Brian Callanan served as a trusted adviser on some of the most important and complex issues I’ve worked on — from tax reform, to regulatory reform, to tough legal issues cutting across multiple policy areas,” said Portman. “He’s an exceptionally talented litigator and policy counsel. We’re fortunate to have this well-respected lawyer return to public service to lead my team at the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.”
Callanan previously served as General Counsel to Portman and as staff director of another oversight subcommittee chaired by Portman. A graduate of Harvard Law School and Claremont McKenna College, Callanan is a former law clerk to Judge Raymond Randolph of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is the Senate’s premier investigative body. PSI has a history of high-profile, long-term, impactful investigations.
As recently announced by the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Portman will chair PSI and U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) will serve as Ranking Member. Portman and McCaskill have previously worked closely together on a number of issues, including their bipartisan Federal Permitting Improvement Act, a bill aimed at cutting through federal red tape and expediting job-creating infrastructure projects. The senators also collaborated on bipartisan proposals to improve oversight of the security clearance background check process.
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