FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         EON
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1995                        (202) 616-2765
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 

    FREDERICK BARON NAMED AS HEAD OF NATIONAL SECURITY OFFICE


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Attorney General Janet Reno announced
today the appointment of Frederick D. Baron, a partner in a 
240-attorney Palo Alto, California, law firm, as Director of the
Executive Office for National Security.
     "We are pleased that Mr. Baron has agreed to join the
Department of Justice to be the Director of the Executive
Office," said Reno.  "He has a wide range of experience in
national security, foreign intelligence, criminal and FBI matters
and will be a valuable asset to the Department and the office."
     Baron succeeds Mark Steinberg, who was named the office's
first director October 3, 1994.    
     Baron is a partner in the 240-attorney law firm of Cooley
Godward Castro Huddleson & Tatum, which has offices in Palo Alto,
San Francisco, San Diego, Denver and Boulder, Colorado.  His
practice with the firm, since 1983, has centered on litigation
and counseling of high technology companies.  
     In 1992, Baron served on the Clinton presidential transition
team reviewing national security matters and international
programs at the Department of Justice.  From 1980 through 1982,
he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the
Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney's office, where he handled
criminal prosecutions and civil proceedings.
     Baron was a special assistant to Attorney General Griffin
Bell from 1977 through 1979.  In that capacity, he worked on such
matters as national security, foreign intelligence and criminal
matters and served as Department coordinator with National
Security Council working groups.
     He was counsel to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence from 1975 through 1976.  
     Baron graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College in 1969
and from Stanford Law School in 1974.  
     He and his wife, Kathryn, have three children.
     Steinberg, who will return to Los Angeles after being in
Washington more than two years, was Counselor on International
Law to the Legal Adviser of the State Department before coming to
the Department of Justice.    
     The Executive Office of National Security coordinates
Department activities involving international, national security
and foreign intelligence issues and acts as a forum for
developing national security policy.  It also serves as the focal
point for contacts between the Department and other agencies on
national security and international matters.  
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