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Very soon we may have an Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, and Criminal Division head who all lack prosecutorial experience. This is very unusual! 1/
A few times the Deputy Attorney General has lacked prosecutorial experience, most recently David Ogden (whom I worked for), Jamie Gorelick under Clinton and a guy named Bill Barr under Bush 41. But all three worked under AGs who had substantial prosecutorial experience. 2/
Rosen is very experienced lawyer but has never worked at DOJ. The only recent DAG without DOJ experience was Gorelick. Unlike her, Rosen would arrive at a time when the AG is new (although of course does have DOJ experience from 26 years ago). 3/
I worked in the DAG’s office for five years back in normal times when virtually no one outside government knew who the DAG was. It’s a massive job! See this great thread by my former colleague in the DAG’s office, @YesMomsCan. 4/
If confirmed Rosen will have two things going for him: management experience (he’s currently #2 at the Dept of Transportation) and a close relationship with the Attorney General, who has known him for a long time and reportedly selected him (that isn’t always the case). 5/
Rosen’s staff will surely include veteran DOJ prosecutors, so he won’t be flying by the seat of his pants. Still, it is surprising that Barr, who wasn’t a prosecutor, would choose as his deputy someone whose experience seems to mirror, rather than complement, his own. 6/
Finally, the head of the Criminal Division since July is Brian Benczkowski, who has criminal defense experience and was chief of staff to AG Mukasey but never has prosecuted anyone. 7/end
My ODAG colleague @YesMomsCan has a new piece in @politico making the case that Rosen is simply not qualified to replace Rosenstein as DAG. politico.com/magazine/amp/s… 
