Nora Dannehy

Nora R. Dannehy (born March 13, 1961 in Willimantic, Connecticut) was appointed Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut on April 4, 2008. She is the first woman to hold the office, which was established in 1789.

Dannehy, who graduated from Harvard Law School in 1986, joined the United States Department of Justice in 1991. Prior to her appointment, she had served as Professional Responsibility Officer for the District.

Dannehy prosecuted political corruption in Connecticut and won convictions of former Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland and former state Treasurer Paul Silvester.

On September 29, 2008, Dannehy was appointed by United States Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey to continue an investigation into the George W. Bush administration's dismissals of nine federal prosecutors in 2006. Her role was to determine if anyone should be prosecuted following the investigation by the Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility of the Department of Justice, which had concluded that political pressure drove the dismissals of at least three of the federal prosecutors in 2006. Her investigation concluded that "Evidence did not demonstrate that any prosecutable criminal offense was committed with regard to the removal of David Iglesias," "The investigative team also determined that the evidence did not warrant expanding the scope of the investigation beyond the removal of Iglesias," and that "there was insufficient evidence to charge someone with lying to Congress or investigators."

On December 10, 2010, Dannehy was named by Connecticut Attorney General elect George Jepsen to the post of Deputy Attorney General of the state.

On March 18, 2019, Dannehy returned to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Connecticut, as Counsel to John H. Durham. She is working with Durham on an inquiry into the origins of the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections.