John Walk
John Walk serves as Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services, and Judicial Officer of the United States Department of Agriculture. As Acting Deputy Under Secretary, John provides policy leadership to administer USDA’s nutrition programs and management oversight of Food and Nutrition Service. John also serves as Judicial Officer after his appointment to the position by former Secretary Sonny Perdue in December 2020. The Judicial Officer is the Secretary’s designee pursuant to the Schwellenbach Act to carry out certain regulatory functions. In this capacity, John acts as final deciding officer in USDA formal adjudicatory proceedings in the enforcement of various statutes and regulations administered by USDA and decides dispute resolution proceedings involving claims arising from commercial transactions. The Judicial Officer is also designated by the Secretary in regulation as a general officer of USDA.
Prior to USDA, John served as Associate Counsel to President Donald J. Trump at the White House Counsel’s Office from January 2017 until December 2020. At the White House, John advised the President and senior White House officials on the exercise of the President’s constitutional authority, regulatory matters, executive actions, and implementation of public policy. Prior to the White House, John served as an attorney at the Department of Homeland Security, providing advice on DHS operations and defending against federal litigation as agency counsel. Before entering the legal profession, John was a senior government relations advisor at an international law firm and served as a congressional staffer in the House of Representatives. Over his more than 23 years of federal service, John has worked on a variety of legal and public policy areas including agriculture, border security, immigration, cybersecurity, national security, criminal justice, technology, tax, trade, drug control policy, social security, administrative law, and the Constitution.
John is a native of Seattle, Washington. He received his bachelor’s degree from Occidental College in Los Angeles, California and Juris Doctor from George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School in Arlington, Virginia.
