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Offices

Office of the Assistant Attorney General (OAAG)

The Office of the Assistant Attorney General (OAAG) is responsible for the overall management and oversight of OJP. This includes setting policy; ensuring that OJP policies and programs reflect the priorities of the President, the Attorney General, and the Congress; and promoting coordination among the OJP program offices.

Leadership

Amy L. Solomon
Assistant Attorney General

Amy L. Solomon AAAG
Amy L. Solomon, Assistant Attorney General


About Amy

Amy L. Solomon serves as the Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Nominated by President Biden and confirmed by a bipartisan vote of the Senate on April 18, 2023, Amy leads the Justice Department's principal funding, research, and statistical component, overseeing about $5 billion annually in grants and other resources to support state, local and tribal criminal and juvenile justice activities and victim service programs. Prior to her confirmation, Amy served as OJP's Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General since May 2021.

Before 2021, Amy was Vice President of Criminal Justice at Arnold Ventures, where she launched and led a corrections reform portfolio, which aimed to transform the culture of prisons; spark a fundamental shift in the focus of community supervision from catching failure to promoting success; and expand economic opportunities for people with a criminal record. Amy actively collaborated with other philanthropies, serving on the Executive Committee of the Criminal Justice Funders Forum and the founding Clean Slate Advisory Board.

From 2010 to 2017, Amy served as director of policy for OJP and as senior advisor to OJP’s Assistant Attorney General. She worked to shape, launch, and implement a broad range of domestic policy initiatives focused on criminal justice reform, urban policy, and building trust between the justice system and communities of color. Amy was also executive director of the Federal Interagency Reentry Council, a cabinet-level body established by President Obama comprising more than 20 federal agencies. The Council spearheaded the federal Ban the Box rule, fair housing guidance, the Second Chance Pell initiative and Medicaid guidance for the justice-involved population.

Amy previously spent 10 years at the Urban Institute, directing projects relating to prisoner reentry and public safety. She also worked at OJP’s National Institute of Justice where she developed community crime-reduction and reentry initiatives. In addition, Amy has managed a community service program for justice-involved individuals; developed reentry strategies for a state department of correction; and worked with juveniles in probation, halfway house, and school settings.

Amy has served on numerous advisory councils and boards, helping shape innovative approaches to criminal justice challenges in collaboration with policymakers and practitioners, nonprofit and philanthropic leaders, and the advocacy community. She holds a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Michigan.


Brent J. Cohen
Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General

Brent Cohen Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General
Brent J. Cohen, Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General


About Brent

Brent J. Cohen was designated by Attorney General Merrick Garland to serve as the Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs in May 2023. He helps set policy and programmatic priorities for the Department of Justice’s largest grantmaking component, shaping $5 billion in funding to support state, local and tribal efforts to advance community safety, reform the criminal and juvenile justice systems, and assist those impacted by crime. Prior to this designation, Brent served as OJP’s Chief of Staff beginning in November 2021.

Brent previously served as the Vice President for Youth Engagement at the Center for American Progress and as the Executive Director of Generation Progress, CAP’s young adult engagement arm. Before joining CAP, Brent served as the Vice President and Interim CEO of JustLeadershipUSA, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to cutting the U.S. correctional population in half by empowering the people most affected by incarceration to drive policy change.

This is Brent’s second time working in federal government; he was appointed by President Obama to the prestigious White House Fellows Program, and later served as a Senior Advisor in OJP’s Office of the Assistant Attorney General. At OJP, he led and contributed to a number of efforts to advance criminal and juvenile justice reform, with a focus on eliminating racial disparities and reducing incarceration for children and young adults.

Before coming to DC, Brent worked for the New York City Departments of Correction and Probation. He was the Director of Legislative and Government Affairs for the New York City Department of Probation, where he helped pass several pieces of state legislation to implement the department’s ambitious reform agenda, including the landmark Close to Home Act, which realigned juvenile justice services from the state to the city and significantly reduced the number of young people in secure care. Brent also led implementation of the Neighborhood Opportunity Network, or NeON, which transformed the community supervision model in New York City into one that was community-focused and responsive to the needs of people on probation.

Brent began his career as a teacher in South Los Angeles. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s in public administration from New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.


Maureen Henneberg
Deputy Assistant Attorney General

Maureen Henneberg Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Operations and Management
Maureen Henneberg, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Operations and Management


About Maureen

Maureen A. Henneberg is the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Operations and Management, in the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. She has served in this role since February 2015, following a one-year term as Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General. In this position, she advises the Assistant Attorney General on management and operational issues, overseeing OJP’s business offices, including the Office of the Chief Financial Officer; the Office of Administration; the Office of Audit, Assessment, and Management; the Office of the Chief Information Officer; the Office of Communications; and the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity.

Before joining the Office of the Assistant Attorney General, Maureen served for five years as Director of OJP's Office of Audit, Assessment, and Management. In this capacity, she led the review of OJP's critical financial processes, grants management activities and grant programs to ensure compliance and proper internal control and to promote integrity, accountability and sound stewardship and management of OJP's grant programs and operations.

Maureen was also a senior manager in OJP's Bureau of Justice Statistics, where she served as Deputy Director overseeing the office's planning, management and budget activities; publication and dissemination operations; and programs designed to improve crime information and statistics at state and local levels. She began her career with BJS in 1990 as a Presidential Management Intern and served in several capacities over her 18-year tenure, including as Acting Director; Associate Director of Planning, Management, and Budget; and Acting Chief of Criminal History Improvement Programs.

Maureen earned a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in judicial administration from American University in Washington, D.C., in 1990. She graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and minors in criminal justice and public administration from the State University of New York at Geneseo in 1988.

Date Created: January 7, 2020