Each month, FASPE highlights an alumni for their notable work in a newsletter feature called "Where Are They Now?" Below is an excerpt from the February newsletter.
Many FASPE Alumni are working in Civil Service positions throughout the United States and beyond. They are professionals in their own right; they are also civil service professionals. We are proud of their professionalism and, even more so, their commitments to a civil society.
The Trump administration and its extra-constitutional “DOGE” is dismantling the Civil Service.
We normally highlight one of our alumni in the newsletter. This month, we are introducing you to three of them. Through their particular positions, they represent many further alumni and the tens of thousands of others who serve America through their professions–especially in the Civil Service:
- Sean Brennan (Law 2024) is a former federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice, where he worked on cases related to the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. He was among the dozens of prosecutors who were abruptly fired for doing the work properly assigned to them not long after President Trump issued pardons for 1,500 defendants who participated in the riots. Recently, Sean appeared on 60 Minutes to discuss the urgency of addressing this threat to the rule of law.
- Carson Thomas (Law 2012) is the Resident Legal Officer for USAID (The United States Agency for International Development)/Afghanistan. Thousands of roles at USAID have been eliminated in an attempt to reroute or eliminate USAID and bypass generations of Congressionally approved funding, with the effect of undermining decades of humanitarian efforts and international relationships.
- Sophia Hernandez Tragesser (Law 2024), an attorney with the Department of the Navy's Office of General Counsel, is among tens of thousands of Department of Defense civilians whose jobs are at risk due to arbitrary firings linked to her probationary status (less than two years of employment).
We rely on our Civil Service professionals to do the work of government and to promote American values and interests throughout the world. We thank Sean, Carson, and Sophia for their work, their commitment to professional ethics and ethical leadership, and for their service.
Click here to read FASPE Chair David Goldman's LinkedIn article about the current dismantling of the Civil Service profession.
Sean Brennan
2024 Law Fellow
Most recently, Sean Brennan served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., where he prosecuted crimes arising from the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He previously worked as an associate at an international law firm, focusing on white collar criminal defense and international trade, and as an intern to the Human Rights Committee at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Mr. Brennan received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and his B.A. from Northwestern University.
Sean's Reflection on FASPE:
"Throughout law school and in my legal career, I often found myself getting bogged down in the big picture of ethical issues. Despite my best intentions, this left me feeling powerless whenever I couldn't think of a clean, elegant solution to systemic injustices. FASPE has been critical in helping me reframe my approach to ethics. While I still strive to tackle the big issues, I've come to see the powerful role that basic, everyday decisions make in my ethical decision-making. Even things as simple as making sure I get a good night's sleep are now central ethical practices in my life, but I never would have understood them as relevant to my ethics without FASPE. Especially recently, these lessons from FASPE proved critical as I confronted major ethical dilemmas relating to my former work in the Department of Justice."
Carson Thomas
2012 Law Fellow
Carson Thomas is the Resident Legal Officer for USAID/Afghanistan. Prior to joining the USAID foreign service in 2023, Carson worked in private practice at Baker & McKenzie and independently, focusing on investor-state arbitration, white collar investigations, commercial litigation, and nuclear waste policy. He also volunteered extensively as a pro bono legal advisor to asylum seekers in Tijuana, Mexico and Lesvos, Greece. He clerked for Chief Justice Dan Fabe of the Alaska Supreme Court; Judge Haywood Gilliam of the US District Court for the Northern District of California; and Judge John Noonan of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Born and raised in Carson City, Nevada, Carson has lived and worked as a language teacher and attorney in Mexico, Turkey, Nepal, Spain, China, Switzerland, the UK, Greece, and Kazakhstan. He holds degrees from Carleton College (BA), Dartmouth College (MA), New York University School of Law (JD), and the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights (LLM). He is an avid rock climber and ski mountaineer.
Carson's Reflection on FASPE:
"Assuming that I am still in my position when this is published, I should make clear that I write the following in my personal capacity and not in any way as a statement on behalf of USAID or the United States government.
When I participated in FASPE as a Law Fellow in 2012, I knew that the long and challenging conversations we had in New York, Poland, and Germany were engaging and raised vital issues. But I thought that the lessons would require abstraction and analogical reasoning to apply to my own career. It seemed unlikely that I would directly confront the kind of professional ethical challenges faced by lawyers in the Third Reich, or even by administration lawyers in the global "war on terror." So I took a typical path: clerkships, large firm, pro bono work. I did my best to practice law with integrity and conscience but without a sense of ethical urgency. Still I remained engaged with the FASPE community because I loved our discussions and the way we questioned assumptions and looked beneath the surface of our work.
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My path shifted in 2017. I eventually left my firm to focus on pro bono asylum legal services on the southern border and the Greek islands before the pandemic forced another change in direction. When I finally returned to a FASPE Reunion in 2023, I had just joined USAID as a foreign service legal officer and did not yet know my first assignment. I was subsequently presented with the challenge and the opportunity to serve as the Resident Legal Officer for USAID/Afghanistan---a full circle moment for me as I was inspired to go to law school by a chance meeting with an Afghan refugee when I was teaching in Turkey. I later also had many Afghan clients as part of my asylum work.
As you might imagine, the last month has been difficult. Last week, we met with our Afghan staff, likely for the final time before the dissolution of our mission. They spoke of what they lived through as children in Afghanistan; the hopes and successes of the 20 years after September 11th; and their evacuations from Kabul in 2021. They risked their lives to work with us, shoulder to shoulder. They believed what we said about the rule of law, and good governance, and the right to an education for all. And they struggle to understand what the latest news means for them personally and for the people in Afghanistan we have tried to help.
There is much to say about the immediate human suffering and generational harm to our national interests that we cause when we betray the trust---the faith---that people around the world have placed in us. But I write now to express gratitude for the lessons I learned as part of the FASPE community. Our discussions and the introspection they inspired have given me a touchstone in this challenging time. As I watch my colleagues do their best to reconcile their professional duty with their daily reality, I frequently draw on my FASPE experience. I try to articulate how I understand our roles as attorneys and public servants. I continue to advise my clients on how to implement policy directives and the direct orders of superiors in a way that respects statutory details, ethical foundations, and the spirit of the Constitution. And I try to be explicit about the lines I will not cross and give cover to those who have more to lose than I do.
There is much uncertainty---folks keeping their head down in the hope that the storm will pass. But there is also courage and integrity, and professionals trying to salvage what they can up. It is unlikely that USAID will last much longer. But I hope to make my time here count for something, and then, after some rest and recovery, find a new way to serve.
FASPE has built a wonderful community. We are going to need all the ethical professionals we can find."
Sophia Hernandez Tragesser
2024 Law Fellow
Sophia is an attorney with the Department of the Navy Office of the General Counsel in Norfolk, Virginia. She supports the Military Sealift Command by providing legal counsel and acquisition support for the 130+ vessels MSC uses to refuel and supply ships, provide logistical transports, and perform critical support for America’s Navy. Sophia graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2024 and chose to work as a Navy civilian to protect the American people alongside the uniformed men and women in the Department of Defense.
Sophia's Reflection on FASPE
"FASPE introduced a new approach of centering ethical questions at the heart of legal problem solving. In law school, logic and technical craftiness of arguments are promoted as the pinnacle of legal work product. It is easy to get lost in the pursuit of a technically sound outcome and lose sight of the people impacted by it. FASPE challenged me to consider, from the beginning of legal problem solving, the ethical implications of my task, approach, and the outcomes. Since the fellowship, I spend more time engaging with ethical questions, from small emails to big-picture conversations with clients. I am a better counselor for the U.S. government and the American people because of my growing ethical leadership abilities supported by FASPE."