About Jeff Robbins

Jeff Robbins

Jeff Robbins

Jeff Robbins' latest book, "Notes From the Brink: A Collection of Columns about Policy at Home and Abroad," is available now on AmazonBarnes & NobleApple Books and Google Play.

Robbins, a nationally recognized First Amendment lawyer and civil litigator, served as chief counsel for the Democratic senators on the United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and as deputy chief counsel for the Democratic senators on the United States Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. In 1999 and 2000, he served as a United States delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland.

Between 1987 and 1990, he was an assistant United States attorney for the District of Massachusetts, where he focused on civil fraud cases and money laundering investigations. There he was tapped to be the district’s first chief of the Asset Forfeiture Unit. He was also twice appointed as a special assistant attorney general in Massachusetts, representing the secretary of the commonwealth.

He has written widely on politics, foreign policy and national security matters for the Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, The Times of Israel and the New York Observer. He is a visiting professor of the practice of political science at Brown University, where he teaches courses on congressional investigations and political journalism. He has received awards for public service from the United States Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the General Services Administration. From 2012 to 2014, he was chairman of the Anti-Defamation League’s New England board of directors, and from 2001 through 2004, he was president of the World Affairs Council of Boston.

He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Joanne. They have two children, two golden retrievers and four cats.

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Loud Silence: While Washington Dithers, Ukrainians Wait for the Missiles Mar 17, 2026

For Olha Burdeina's fellow Ukrainians, beginning their fifth year under Russian assault, "the silence is loud." Burdeina, a Ukrainian student at Brown University, writes that "(i)t is the moment between the siren and the explosion that makes you list... Read More

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Grift and Graft: A White House Simply for Sale Mar 10, 2026

In the end, it wasn't the disturbingly Gestapo-like tactics of her U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, smashing cars, pulling innocents off the streets and executing two American citizens, that did Kristi Noem in. It wasn't the sneering ... Read More

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Both Sides Now: The Cons and Pros of 'Operation Epic Fury' Mar 03, 2026

A young lawyer once asked an old Washington hand what to expect when he went down to work for a U.S. Senate committee. The old hand, who'd worked in the Capitol for years, reflected. "Here's the thing, son," he replied. "Things ain't all on the level... Read More

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Love for Sale: Qatar's Cash Comes a-Calling Feb 24, 2026

Former U.S. Congressman Barney Frank used to mock those pretending not to be influenced by cash funneled into their pockets. "I can't be bought," Frank put it, "but I sure as hell can be rented." These days, it's Performative Primary Politics 101 for... Read More