Born to parents Van and Myrna Olsen in Fargo, North Dakota, Olsen's family moved to Washington D.C. when he was three years old, growing up with his two sisters; Jennifer and Susan.[4] His father, who died in 2008, worked as the chief of staff for North Dakota Senator Mark Andrews in the late 1960s.[5] Olsen's grandfather immigrated from Norway and moved to North Dakota at the age of sixteen.[4]
He joined the United States Attorney's office for the District of Columbia in 1994, working as a federal prosecutor.[8] In 2003, he was appointed Deputy Chief for the Organized Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section within the U.S. Attorney's Office and worked as a Special Counsel to FBI DirectorRobert Mueller from 2004 to 2005.[10] In 2005, the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, Kenneth L. Wainstein, appointed Olsen as the Chief of the newly created National Security Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office, where he headed an eleven-member division that prosecuted suspected terrorists, and those who are suspected of illegal arms and human trafficking.[11]
Olsen was appointed Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's National Security Division, where he served from 2006 to 2009, and was the acting director of the division from January to March 2009.[12] Olsen was in charge of the Justice Department's management of intelligence operations and oversight, and helped oversee the expansion of the National Security Division's Office of Intelligence Policy and Review.[13] During his tenure, Olsen helped coordinate the expansion between the intelligence community and federal prosecutors in using intelligence from clandestine operations and warrantless surveillance in criminal cases. The actions were criticized by civil liberties advocates for threatening privacy rights, with Olsen saying that "We want to make sure that everyone knows what each other's doing," and that the Department of Justice "wants to make sure that we're taking full advantage of this very valuable information."[14] He voiced his support and helped craft legislation for the 2008 expansion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act[15] and was in charge of coordinating other FISA-related litigation.[7]
Olsen briefly served as Associate Deputy Attorney General from March 2011 to July 2011, before leaving the Justice Department and joining the National Security Agency as the general counsel, the NSA's chief legal adviser.[18][19]
Before his nomination as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Olsen served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center from 2001 to 2011.[20]
Biden administration
On May 26, 2021, President Joe Biden announced Olsen as his nominee to serve as the Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division;[21][22] his nomination was sent to the Senate the following day.[23] On July 14, 2021, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee and on July 20, 2021, a hearing was held before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. On August 8, 2021, his nomination was favorably reported out of the Judiciary committee and on August 10, his nomination was favorably reported out of the Intelligence committee.[24] On October 28, 2021, his nomination was confirmed in Senate by a 53–45 vote.[25] He was sworn into office on November 1, 2021.[26]
Tenure
On January 11, 2022, Olsen was invited to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the threat of domestic terrorism one year from the January 6 Capitol attack.[27] During this Senate hearing, he announced the creation of a new unit to help investigate and prosecute cases of domestic terrorism.[28]
He served on the board of directors of Human Rights First and previously served on the Advisory Board of the National Security institute.[33]
Personal life
Olsen lives with his wife Fern in Kensington, Maryland. She is a lawyer and serves on the board of trustees for the non-profit public interest law firm Earthjustice.[34] Olsen and his wife have three children.[7]