beginning in late october 2001, nahmias was detailed to the united states department of justice criminal division in washington to serve as counsel to the assistant attorney general. in that capacity, nahmias coordinated the investigations and prosecutions of al qaeda and other terrorist activity around the united states and in numerous foreign countries, assisted in counterterrorism policy-making, and served as a doj liaison to other federal agencies on terrorism-related issues. on august 1, 2003, nahmias was appointed as a deputy assistant attorney general in the criminal division, responsible for supervision of the counterterrorism section; the fraud section, which handles policy and litigation matters including corporate, securities, and health care fraud cases and the enron task force; the appellate section; and the capital case unit.