Victor Comras has pursued a public service career in international law and diplomacy. He retired from the U.S. Department of State in 2001, and is now a practicing attorney and consultant on regulatory matters related to homeland and national security, including immigration; international trade and investment; money laundering controls; foreign political risk assessment; and sanctions and embargoes. He is a noted authority on al Qaeda and terrorism financing. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Financial Times, and other international press and professional journals. He is quoted regularly by radio, television and other news media in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe.
In May 2002 Mr. Comras was appointed by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to serve as one of five international monitors charged with overseeing and reporting to the Security Council on the implementation of UN Chapter VII measures to be taken against al Qaeda and the Taliban. He served at that post for two years before resigning. He is now a partner in the Law Offices of Comras & Comras in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and serves as Special Counsel to the Eren Law Firm in Washington DC.
Mr. Comras led the U.S. State Department's foreign policy trade control and sanctions programs for nearly a decade. In 1999, Secretary Madeleine Albright put him in charge of developing an international sanctions program on Serbia aimed at isolating, and bringing down, the Slobodan Milosevic regime. He also served as the State Department’s point-man on sanctions related to Iraq, Iran, Libya, Haiti, Cuba and North Korea, and other crisis areas. In 1994, Mr. Comras was appointed by President Clinton to serve as the first U.S. envoy to the Republic of Macedonia. His other diplomatic assignments included postings in Africa, Europe and Canada, and at the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the European Union and COCOM. He served as the first State Department Coordinator for the restitution of World War II (Holocaust) assets. He is the recipient of 10 Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards from the Department of State and of the Council of Europe's Presidents Medal.
