Christopher Swift represents clients in government investigations and enforcement proceedings involving arms controls (ITAR), customs, economic sanctions (OFAC), export controls (EAR), the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and government contracts. He also has experience in proceedings before the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and other matters involving inbound investment, national security, and Foreign Ownership, Control, or Influence (FOCI). Dr. Swift is a member of Foley's Government Enforcement, Compliance & White Collar Defense Practice.
In addition to his government enforcement practice, Dr. Swift has also advised clients on Bilateral Investment Treaties, Free Trade Agreements, U.S. trade policy, World Trade Organization disputes, and U.S trade litigation (AD/CVD). His clients include multinational corporations, financial institutions, sovereign wealth funds, private corporations, and defense contractors.
Prior to entering private practice, Dr. Swift was an enforcement officer in U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), where he investigated U.S. sanctions violations with particular emphasis on terrorist syndicates, weapons proliferators, and specially-designated Iranian and Sudanese nationals. While at OFAC, he managed a broad spectrum of enforcement cases involving banking, insurance, maritime shipping, and other complex international and jurisdictional issues.
Dr. Swift is an adjunct professor of national security studies at Georgetown University and continues to advise U.S. policy makers on the legal and substantive aspects of counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, and defense policy, as well as on political dynamics in the Greater Middle East and Former Soviet Union. His policy experience spans roles with Dartmouth College, Freedom House, the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom, and a White House internship in the Office of Vice President Gore. He has appeared as a guest analyst on legal and national security issues for leading media outlets, including the BBC, CBS, Al-Jazeera, and National Public Radio.
Dr. Swift earned a Ph.D. in politics & international studies from the University of Cambridge (2011), where he was section editor for the Cambridge Review of International Affairs. His law degree was conferred by Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., cum laude, 2009) and his undergraduate degree in history and government was earned at Dartmouth College (A.B., 1998).
Dr. Swift is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, the State of New York, and before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. He is a member of the American Society of International Law and is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Dr. Swift is proficient in French and can understand Russian.