Former senior DOJ official Matthew McKenzie has joined defense contractor RTX as director and counsel for global trade, he announced on LinkedIn. McKenzie left DOJ this month after working at the agency for 10 years, including stints as the acting deputy chief for export controls and sanctions and the national coordinator for the Disruptive Technology Strike Force.

Alan Estevez, undersecretary of the Bureau of Industry and Security during the Biden administration, has joined Covington & Burling as a senior adviser. Estevez is joining the firm's practice groups working on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and international trade controls. Estevez served as undersecretary for more than three years, during which he oversaw the introduction and implementation of a range of new export control rules to restrict sales of advanced semiconductors and chip-related technology to China; new export restrictions against Russia; the continued expansion of the Entity List; and more.

Former senior Bureau of Industry and Security officials Matt Borman and Eileen Albanese have joined Akin, the firm announced this week. Borman -- who served more than two decades with BIS, including most recently as the principal deputy assistant secretary for export administration -- joins as a trade lawyer. Albanese, most recently the director of the BIS Office of National Security Controls, joins Akin as a regulatory adviser. Both Borman and Albanese left BIS earlier this year (see 2502240003).

National security attorneys Maria Alejandra del-Cerro and Elyssa Kutner have joined DLA Piper as partners in the national security and global trade practice, the firm announced. Del-Cerro is a former attorney in the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls and joins DLA Piper from Crowell & Moring, where she'd worked as a partner since 2022. Kutner joins the firm from Sidley Austin, where she worked as an associate, then as counsel, since 2020.

Eric Longnecker, a longtime senior Bureau of Industry and Security official who most recently served as the agency's deputy assistant secretary for technology security, left BIS last week, he announced on LinkedIn. Longnecker -- who was named to the position last year to oversee work on emerging and foundational technology export controls, foreign technology analysis and research to assess the effectiveness of export controls (see 2405070005) -- said he accepted the government's early retirement offer. He had been with BIS since 2004.

Kelly Ann Shaw, a senior White House trade and economics official during the first Trump administration, has joined Akin Gump's lobbying and public policy practice. The law firm said she was a "key architect" of the administration's trade policies and a negotiator for the U.S.-China phase one trade deal.

John Johnson, most recently the special agent in charge of the Bureau of Industry and Security's Miami field office, has retired from the agency, he announced last week on LinkedIn. Johnson led the Miami field office from May 2023 and had been with BIS since 2007.

John Kabealo, founder of Kabealo Law, and Evan Sills, former counsel at Kabealo Law, have joined Kirkland & Ellis as partners in the international trade and national security practice group, the firm announced. Kabealo Law, a boutique national security law firm, specialized in the national security regulatory process, dealing with issues related to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, Team Telecom and cybersecurity, Kirkland said.

President Donald Trump is nominating his national security adviser, Milke Waltz, to instead be the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., he announced on social media. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as interim national security adviser while continuing to lead the State Department, Trump said. The announcement comes weeks after it was revealed Waltz added a journalist to a discussion about military plans among senior administration officials on the messaging app Signal.

John Varesi, a senior engineer and licensing officer with the Bureau of Industry and Security, is retiring from the agency this week, he said during an April 29 Sensors and Instrumentation Technical Advisory Committee meeting. Varesi had been with BIS since 2006.