DOJ Counterintelligence Chief Leaves as Iran Threat Increases

A senior counterintelligence official is leaving the Justice Department in the latest departure by a high-ranking national security attorney in the early months of the Trump administration.

Jennifer Gellie, who served as chief of the counterintelligence and export control section, will be exiting, according to people familiar with the matter and an email invite to a July 16 “farewell” event seen by Bloomberg Law. She’ll leave a vacancy in a role with outsize significance addressing threats from bad actors supporting Iran, China, and Russia.

The move comes amid significant turnover inside the national security division, which in recent months has lost several senior officials that oversaw areas including counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and policy. It also comes as the FBI redirects more of its focus away from immigration and to counterterrorism in wake of US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

As the counterintelligence chief, Gellie had responsibilities over issues including covert foreign influence and transnational repression. She also led a section that pursued high-profile cases in recent years under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, a lobbying transparency law.

The DOJ in 2024 brought cases against a former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) for allegedly acting as an unregistered agent for China and against a former CIA official for allegedly working as foreign agent of South Korea.

The cases remain pending, however Attorney General Pam Bondi said early in her tenure that she would limit the type of investigations pursued under the law to alleged instances of “traditional espionage.”

It wasn’t immediately clear the reason for Gellie’s departure or who was in line to replace her. Gellie had taken over after her predecessor, Jay Bratt, joined special counsel Jack Smith’s office in 2022. Bratt left the department in January.

Before rising to supervisor in 2021, Gellie spent five years at DOJ as a national security prosecutor. That included securing a jury conviction and 20-year prison sentence for a former CIA officer who handed secrets to China.

Eun Young Choi, who served as a deputy assistant attorney general overseeing the counterintelligence and export control section, also left the department in February and is now in private practice.

The Justice Department didn’t immediately return a request for comment on Thursday.

The Justice Department’s national security division is now led by John Eisenberg, who was confirmed by the Senate June 5. Eisenberg, a former Kirkland & Ellis partner, served during the first Trump administration as a deputy counsel to the president and legal adviser to the National Security Council.

The department in its fiscal 2026 budget request proposed slashing funding for the national security division by 8%, as part of deep cuts across its law-enforcement components. The proposal also authorized 324 positions for the unit, a roughly 10% reduction from its staff level in fiscal 2025.