As a Senior Managing Director in Guidepost’s Washington, D.C. office, Keith Ausbrook is a key team member on the firm’s high-profile monitoring and compliance engagements. He is currently leading a major effort to support the development of a compliance program for a defense contractor under investigation by the Department of Justice.
He has led teams reviewing sanctions and anti-money laundering compliance programs in financial institutions around the world including engagements in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Mr. Ausbrook was also a member of the monitor team reviewing safety programs at General Motors under a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. He is a senior member of Guidepost’s national security practice engaged in CFIUS monitorships and advises clients regarding CFIUS mitigation measures.
Mr. Ausbrook is a distinguished lawyer with an accomplished record of managing complex matters of national and international interest. He has held numerous senior executive and legislative branch positions where he developed and implemented oversight and investigative strategies, advised senior government officials on legal and political issues, and participated in public messaging for high profile matters. Mr. Ausbrook has extensive experience with government investigations conducted by Congress, Inspectors General, the Government Accountability Office, and federal prosecutors and the FBI.
Prior to joining Guidepost Solutions in 2014, Mr. Ausbrook was General Counsel and Senior Vice President at CDS, LLC where he served as the chief legal officer and provided advice on homeland and national security matters involving federal regulatory programs and compliance, due diligence investigations, and federal contracting matters.
Previously, he held the position of Executive Secretary of the Homeland Security Council at the White House advising and supporting the President of the United States. He developed and advanced homeland security and counterterrorism policy and produced memoranda and reports for the President and the public on multiple subjects, including maritime security, emergency preparedness, and pandemic influenza planning.
Mr. Ausbrook also served as the Special Counsel to a House select committee of Members of Congress investigating preparation for and response to Hurricane Katrina. The Committee produced a report of more than 500 pages that was widely accepted by the public as authoritative and formed the basis for numerous reforms.
As the Chief Oversight Counsel for the House Judiciary Committee following the September 11 attacks, he was deeply involved in the implementation of the USA PATRIOT Act and other counterterrorism measures. These measures included the use of FISA warrants, immigration policies, and terrorist financing.
As the top lawyer on the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, Mr. Ausbrook supervised teams of lawyers engaged in oversight and investigations of waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the federal government, including federal contracting during the war in Iraq, the theft of classified information by former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, and the disclosure of Valerie Plame’s identity. He was responsible for the final publication of the official House of Representatives report on corruption at the FBI in Boston and was involved in legislation enacting, and oversight of implementation of, 9/11 Commission recommendations including the SAFETY Act, information technology systems at the FBI, the security of immigration processes, and new security requirements for state drivers’ licenses and other identification cards.
As a senior lawyer and Deputy Independent Counsel in the U.S. Office of the Independent Counsel, Mr. Ausbrook worked on highly visible, sensitive investigations, developed and executed investigative and legal strategies, and produced final official reports explaining the activities and conclusions of the Office. These reports covered investigations ranging from complex tax law to regulated lending practices and professional misconduct and the treatment of sensitive and classified materials.
Mr. Ausbrook began his legal career at the law firm of Collier, Shannon, Rill & Scott (now Kelley Drye). He is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Virginia School of Law.
Did you know?
During summers in high school and college, Keith was a counselor at a tennis camp run by one of the greatest women tennis players of all time, Pauline Betz Addie, who won 4 U.S. Open titles and a Wimbledon title. After her playing days ended, she settled in DC with her husband Bob Addie, a Washington Post sportswriter, and five children, where she gave tennis lessons (to Keith, among others) and ran the camp for 7-14 year olds.
