Profiles · Oversight
- Type
- Person
- Role
- Oversight and enforcement
- Updated
The profile
Founding Staff Director of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis; former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania; founding director of the University of Pittsburgh's cyber institute.
In the archive
- Profile: Allison Friedrich Murphy
- Profile: Russell M. Anello
Identity & role
Founding Director, University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security ("Pitt Cyber"), which he established in 2017; affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. (Founding Director, University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security "Pitt Cyber" , which he... (original: cyber.pitt.edu · stored capture); Former U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton Appointed Founding Director of Pitt Cyber Institute — Pitt Chronicle, January 25, 2017 (original: chronicle.pitt.edu · stored capture)) He was the founding Staff Director and Senior Counsel of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis (117th Congress), May 2020 – June 2021. (Pitt Cyber bio)
Career arc
- Sworn in as the 57th U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania in August 2010, serving through November 2016. As U.S. Attorney he brought high-profile cybercrime cases, including the indictment of five members of the Chinese People's Liberation Army for cybertheft, the indictment of Russian hacker Evgeniy Bogachev, and the dismantling of the "Darkode" hacking forum. (David J. Hickton — United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania (From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia) (original: en.wikipedia.org · stored capture); University of Pittsburgh School of Law, "David J. Hickton" (original: law.pitt.edu · stored capture))
- 2017: founded the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security and became its founding director. (Former U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton Appointed Founding Director of Pitt Cyber Institute — Pitt Chronicle, January 25, 2017 (original: chronicle.pitt.edu · stored capture))
- May 2020 – June 2021: Staff Director and Senior Counsel, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. (committee staff release (original: coronavirus.house.gov · stored capture))
- Subsequent public-interest service includes a federal election-security commission and the federal Public Interest Declassification Board, and a senior-advisor role at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. (David Hickton Appointed by President Biden to the Public Interest Declassification Board — University of Pittsburgh (original: utimes.pitt.edu · stored capture); David Hickton Is a Senior Advisor for the Center for Strategic and International Studies — University of Pittsburgh, March 13, 2023 (original: pittwire.pitt.edu · stored capture))
Pandemic relief oversight role
Hickton departed the Subcommittee in June 2021, about eighteen months before the Subcommittee's December 1, 2022 fintech-fraud staff report, "We Are Not the Fraud Police." He is not among that report's authors. (Report: House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, majority staff, Dec. 1, 2022.)
Lobbying & industry ties
Hickton's post-government career is academic and public-interest (Pitt Cyber, university law school, federal advisory boards, a think-tank senior-advisor role). No federal lobbying registration is associated with him.
Where they are now (2025–2026)
After the Subcommittee he returned to the University of Pittsburgh cyber institute he founded. (Founding Director, University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security "Pitt Cyber" , which he... (original: cyber.pitt.edu · stored capture))
Documents on this site
Original source documents and archived copies
- David J. Hickton — United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania (From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia)
- Founding Director, University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security "Pitt Cyber", which he...
- University of Pittsburgh School of Law, "David J. Hickton"
- David Hickton Is a Senior Advisor for the Center for Strategic and International Studies — University of Pittsburgh, March 13, 2023
- David Hickton Appointed by President Biden to the Public Interest Declassification Board — University of Pittsburgh
Related profiles
- James E. Clyburn — the chairman who hired him as founding staff director.
Sources
- University of Pittsburgh, "Former U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton Appointed Founding Director of Pitt Cyber Institute" — Former U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton Appointed Founding Director of Pitt Cyber Institute — Pitt Chronicle, January 25, 2017 (original: chronicle.pitt.edu · stored capture)
- Pitt Cyber, David J. Hickton JD profile — Founding Director, University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security "Pitt Cyber" , which he... (original: cyber.pitt.edu · stored capture)
- University of Pittsburgh School of Law, David J. Hickton — University of Pittsburgh School of Law, "David J. Hickton" (original: law.pitt.edu · stored capture)
- Wikipedia, David J. Hickton (U.S. Attorney W.D. Pa. 2010–2016; PLA, Bogachev, Darkode cases) — David J. Hickton — United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania (From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia) (original: en.wikipedia.org · stored capture)
- Chairman Clyburn announces Select Subcommittee staff (committee release; Staff Director/Senior Counsel, May 2020–June 2021) — committee staff release (original: coronavirus.house.gov · stored capture)
- Report: "We Are Not the Fraud Police", House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, majority staff, Dec. 1, 2022.