in 1992, mr. ramos joined the office of u.s. -- united states attorney, eastern district new york, where he prosecuted a variety of federal crimes, including white-collar crime, defense contractor fraud, money laundering, narcotics trafficking, labor racketeering, and violation of the arms export control act. in june 2000, he was promoted to deputy chief narcotics section, where he supervised assistant u.s. attorneys, prosecuting international narcotics cases. in 2002, the nominee joined the law firm of dave barry howard, predecessor to the firm dave-pitney, as a participate in the government investigations -- partner in the government investigations practice group. currently he does criminal and regulatory investigations, including antitrust, bank fraud, public corruptions, securities fraud, and government program fraud. the american bar association standing committee on the federal judiciary has rated mr. ramos with a unanimous well qualified rating. we're also considering the nominations of judge and