A component of the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas was established in 1879 to prosecute federal crimes and represent federal agencies in matters in North Texas. The district encompasses some 96,000 square miles and eight million people and maintains staffed offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, Lubbock, Amarillo, and Abilene, with additional unstaffed offices in Wichita Falls and San Angelo. The U.S. Attorney, who sits in the Dallas office, is the highest-ranking Department of Justice official within the jurisdiction. They oversee a team of approximately 100 assistant prosecutors, known as Assistant U.S. Attorneys (AUSAs), and serves as the office’s main ambassador to the community.