President-elect Barack Obama has nominated former Justice Department official Eric Holder to be the nation's top law enforcement official.

After Mr. Obama announced his nomination Monday, Holder, currently a lawyer in Washington, said that the Department of Justice's unique role in national security is to make sure the nation is safe and that its laws are respected.

"We can and we must ensure that the American people remain secure and that the great Constitutional guarantees that define us as a nation are truly valued," Holder said. Democrats are investigating the current Justice Department and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez for actions related to the firing of federal prosecutors and President George Bush's wiretapping program.

Holder also pledged to work with local law officials as the new administration's national security team confronts the threat of terrorism.

"From my experience at the Department of Justice, I know we cannot be successful if we act alone...we must never forget that in many ways, those at state and local law enforcement are our first line of detection and protection against those from foreign shores who would do us harm," Holder said.

President-elect Obama praised Holder's "toughness and independence" during a news conference announcing his national security team.

"He has distinguished himself as a prosecutor, a judge, and a senior official, and he is deeply familiar with the law enforcement challenges we face -- from terrorism to counter-intelligence; from white-collar crime to public corruption," Obama said.
If confirmed, Holder would be the first black attorney general.

After graduating from Columbia Law School, Holder began his law career as part of the Attorney General's Honors Program working in the Public Integrity Section.

He was nominated by former President Ronald Reagan as associate judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 1988 and remained in the position for five years.

In 1993, then-President Bill Clinton nominated Holder to become the U.S. attorney for D.C.

Four years later, Mr. Clinton nominated him to serve as deputy attorney general under Attorney General Janet Reno. Holder was charged with supervising the Department of Justice's litigation, enforcement and adminstration. He also became the highest-ranking black law enforcement official in U.S. history.

In the post, Holder developed the department's guidelines for the criminal prosecution of corporations, which became known as the Holder Memorandum, as well as guidelines on using the False Claims Act in civil health care matters.

But during this period, Holder was criticized for his role in pardoning Marc Rich, a billionaire fugitive and commodities trader, who was one of 140 individuals pardonned by President Bill Clinton in his last hours in office. Holder reviewed Rich's pardon request on Jan. 19, 2001 and labeled it "neutral leaning towards favorable."

Holder was later questioned by the House Government Reform Committee reviewing why Rich's pardon was granted.

"In hindsight, I wish I had done some things differently with regard to the Marc Rich matter -- specifically I wish I had ensured that the Department of Justice was more fully informed and involved in this pardon process but let me be very clear, very clear, about one important fact," Holder told the committee. "Efforts to portray me as intimately involved or overly interested in this matter are simply at odds with the facts -- in truth because the Marc Rich case did not stand out as one that was particularly merit or use and because there was a very large number of cases across my desk that fit into this category I never devoted a great deal of time to this matter."

Holder later served briefly under President George Bush as acting attorney general during the confirmation of Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Holder most recently worked as a litigation partner at the Washington law firm Covington & Burling LLP.

Holder first met President-elect Obama in 2004 at a dinner party to welcome the newly-elected Illinois senator to Washington.
"We just clicked," Holder said in a profile in "The American Lawyer" magazine.

He served as President-elect Obama's campaign co-chair and fulfilled various roles for the campaign, including acting as a surrogate and a fundraiser. Holder was with the candidate when he delivered his speech on race in Philadelphia in response to controversial remarks by Mr. Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr.

Holder's nomination as attorney general must be confirmed by the heavily Democratic Senate.

-- Compiled from wire reports and other media sources