Jonathan “Jock” Scharfen has served as deputy director of Citizenship and Immigration Services since June 2006. He became acting director of USCIS following Director Emilio T. Gonzalez’s resignation on April 18, 2008.

 

Scharfen received his BA from the University of Virginia, his JD from the University of Notre Dame and his LLM from the Universtiy of San Diego. He also attended the US Army War College in Carlisle, PA where he studied National Security Strategy. 

 

Scharfen began his 25-year career in the US Marine Corps in 1978 as an infantry officer in various leadership billets until 1983. From 1985 to 1988 he served on the National Security Council, first as a legal fellow until 1986 and then returned as staff counsel and assistant legal advisor until 1988. He served as trial counsel and staff judge advocate for various commands at Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, from 1988 to 1991 and deployed with the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade for Operation Desert Storm. 

 

From 1992 to 1995, Scharfen served as special counsel of environmental law for the Western Area Counsel Office in the Marine Corps. He then served as associate counsel of land use in the Office of the Counsel for the Commandant of the Marine Corps. In 1998 he was selected to command Company A, Marine Security Guard Battalion which had oversight of 20 US Embassy and Consulate Marine Security Guard Detachments throughout the US European Command’s area of responsibility, including Central Asia. He was responsible for the opening of 12 new security detachments in addition to the 20 existing detachments. 

 

In 2000 he returned to the National Security Council staff as deputy legal advisor and director until he assumed the role as chief counsel of the House International Relations Committee in April 2003 and deputy staff director in 2006.