Joshua Stanton is FEMA’s Deputy Chief Counsel for General Law, leading a team of 77 legal professionals specializing in personnel law and litigation, civil rights, regulations, information and Privacy law, procurement law, and fiscal law. He is a recipient of the Secretary’s 2022 Leadership Excellence Award. In 2018, the Administrator’s adoption of his recommendations transformed how FEMA prevents, investigates, and addresses sexual harassment and other forms of misconduct. He led FEMA’s efforts to establish a unified, whole-of-government disaster assistance application system through new legislation, and to help educate its senior executives about legal risks.
Until 2011, he led the team coordinating U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s defense against a large docket of personal injury, wrongful death, and constitutional lawsuits in federal district courts, courts of appeal, and the U.S. Supreme Court. His legal reviews, advice, and training contributed to reforms coinciding with a 70 percent reduction in ICE’s in-custody mortality rate. He previously served a U.S. Army Judge Advocate, where he prosecuted or defended dozens of felony-level courts-martial in California, Korea, and Japan.
In his free time, he wrote and published the legal analysis that led to North Korea’s re-listing as a state sponsor of terrorism; assisted Congress with the drafting of most of its North Korea sanctions laws; and has advised multiple agencies on strategies for enforcing these new authorities. He is a husband and the father of two children—a rising first-year law student and a talented art student.