Connecticut state government After Durham's volunteer work, he became a state prosecutor in Connecticut. From 1977 to 1978, he served as a Deputy Assistant State's Attorney in the Office of the Chief State's Attorney. From 1978 to 1982, Durham served as an Assistant State's Attorney in the New Haven State's Attorney's Office.
Federal government Following those five years as a state prosecutor, Durham became a federal prosecutor, joining the
U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut. In December 2000, Durham revealed secret
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) documents that convinced a judge to vacate the 1968 murder convictions of
Enrico Tameleo, Joseph Salvati,
Peter J. Limone and Louis Greco because they had been framed by the agency. In 2007, the documents helped Salvati, Limone, and the families of the two other men, who had died in prison, win a $101.7 million civil judgment against the government. In 2008, Durham led an inquiry into allegations that FBI agents and
Boston Police had ties with the
Mafia. He also led a series of high-profile prosecutions in
Connecticut against the
New England Mafia and corrupt politicians, including former
Governor John G. Rowland. On February 16, 2018, his nomination was confirmed by
voice vote of the Senate. He was sworn in on February 22, 2018. On October 19, 2020, Barr appointed Durham Special Counsel to lead the
Durham special counsel investigation in an effort to ensure the investigation continued after the Trump administration ended. Durham resigned as U.S. Attorney effective February 28, 2021. He was one of 56 remaining Trump-appointed U.S. Attorneys President
Joe Biden asked to resign in February 2021. He remained as Special Counsel until May 2023. On November 8, 2010, Durham closed the investigation without recommending any criminal charges be filed. Durham's final report remains secret but was the subject of an unsuccessful lawsuit under the
Freedom of Information Act filed by
The New York Times reporter
Charlie Savage.
Torture investigation In August 2009, Attorney General
Eric Holder appointed Durham to lead the Justice Department's investigation of the legality of CIA's use of so-called "
enhanced interrogation techniques" in the torture of detainees. Durham's mandate was to look at only those interrogations that had gone "beyond the officially sanctioned guidelines", with Holder saying interrogators who had acted in "good faith" based on the guidance found in the
Torture Memos issued by the
Bush Justice Department were not to be prosecuted. Later in 2009,
University of Toledo law professor Benjamin G. Davis attended a conference where former officials of the Bush administration had told conference participants shocking stories, and accounts of illegality on the part of more senior Bush officials. Davis wrote an appeal to former
Bush administration officials to take their accounts of illegality directly to Durham. A criminal investigation into the deaths of two detainees,
Gul Rahman in Afghanistan and
Manadel al-Jamadi in Iraq, was opened in 2011. It was closed in 2012 with no charges filed.
Special counsel to review origins of Trump-Russia investigation Beginning in 2017, Trump and his allies alleged that the FBI investigation (known as
Crossfire Hurricane) of possible contacts between his associates and Russian officials (which led to the
Mueller investigation) was a "hoax" or "witch hunt" initiated by his political enemies. In April 2019, Attorney General
William Barr announced that he had launched a review of the origins of the FBI's investigation into
Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and it was reported in May that he had assigned Durham to lead it several weeks earlier. In September 2020, Barr reportedly had pressed the investigation to publish a report before the upcoming election, leading one of Durham's longtime aides to resign out of concern that he was doing so for political purposes. In December 2020, Barr revealed to Congress that he had appointed Durham to lead the
Durham special counsel investigation on October 19. The other two, a Clinton campaign lawyer and a Russian-American analyst, were tried for lying to the FBI and acquitted. On May 12, 2023, Durham submitted his final report to Barr's successor
Merrick Garland. The report concluded the FBI opened a full investigation based on "raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence" when only a preliminary investigation was warranted, and that the bureau applied a different standard when evaluating concerns about the Clinton campaign. Durham found senior FBI personnel displayed "a serious lack of analytical rigor toward the information that they received, especially information received from politically affiliated persons and entities."Reception to the report was divided along partisan lines, with critics calling it a rehash of known information and supporters arguing it confirmed systemic FBI failures. == Awards and accolades ==