DHS Names Senior Advisor for Refugee and Asylum Policy

Release Date: 02/07/06 00:00:00

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
February 7, 2006

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today the appointment of Igor V. Timofeyev as senior advisor for refugee and asylum policy, within the new Policy Directorate. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called for this senior policy position as part of his six-point agenda for the department, outlined last summer following a Second Stage Review of DHS policies, operations and organization.

"The Administration has appointed a highly-qualified and committed professional, in Igor, to this new and important position," said Stewart Baker, Assistant Secretary for Policy. "This country has a deep-rooted tradition of providing refuge to those fleeing from persecution. We’re a better country for it, as Igor’s accomplishments show. I look forward to Igor's contributions to that legacy."

Timofeyev, a native of Russia and himself a refugee, brings considerable expertise to the department. He joins the department from the firm of Sidley Austin in Washington, D.C., and previously served as associate legal officer for the president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, clerk for the U.S. Supreme Court and clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Timofeyev holds a juris doctorate from Yale and a master’s of philosophy in Russian and Eastern European Studies from Oxford, and he graduated summa cum laude from Williams College. At Yale, Timofeyev was articles editor of the Yale Law Journal, co-director of the Forum on the Practice of International Law and president of the Russian and East European Law Forum.

As senior advisor for refugee and asylum policy, Timofeyev will help to guide the department’s policies that protect legitimate asylum and refugee seekers and uphold our nation’s deep commitment to human rights.

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