Russ Washington is currently serving as the Acting Director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). He joined the COPS Office in 2016 as the Principal Deputy Director. The COPS Office is responsible for advancing community policing nationwide and supporting the community policing activities of state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies. To date, the COPS Office has invested more than $14 billion in the advancement of community policing. The COPS Office currently manages over 2,000 active grants totaling $1.4 billion.
Most recently, Russ served as the Director of Incident Management Policy for the National Security Council at the White House. In this role, he coordinated across the Executive Office of the President and federal partners to strengthen the collective federal capabilities to support disaster response operations. He supported White House coordination for drought, severe weather, Atlantic and Pacific tropical activity, wildfires, and the domestic Zika response, and produced the Domestic Incident Coordination Plan for the Executive Office of the President.
