Terence Check

Terence Check is the associate chief counsel for the Infrastructure Security and Regulatory Programs Legal Division in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Office of the Chief Counsel. In this role, he leads a team of attorneys advising the Infrastructure Security Division and its executive assistant director on operational law matters, which include data protection and information-sharing, regulatory activities, counter-IED efforts, vulnerability analysis, international affairs, all hazards exercises and other issues relating to cyber and physical security of critical infrastructure.

Prior to joining CISA, Check served in the Office of the General Counsel, advising U.S. Department of Homeland Security offices and components on matters involving screening/vetting, biometrics (including facial recognition and DNA), data privacy, international relations, internal investigations and law enforcement information sharing matters, including the negotiation of more than a dozen large-scale data-sharing agreements with foreign governments. Check also led the department’s efforts to seek the enactment of the Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila Federal Law Enforcement Officers’ Protection Act of 2021. From 2023-2024, Check was detailed as a special assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Texas, where he prosecuted more than 130 felony cases involving drug and arms trafficking, human smuggling/trafficking, document fraud and child exploitation, including the dismantling of a large child smuggling ring operating out of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and Laredo, Texas.

Check graduated with his JD from Cleveland State University and with his LLM specializing in national security law and policy from American University. In his spare time, he has written and taught in the field of national security law.