He launched his career as a GOP staffer in the Judiciary Committee. During the time he worked on the Republican staff, some staff members breached the security of the Democratic staff’s email communications, read through them, and used this illegally obtained information to try to embarrass their political opponents. It is unclear what relationship Benczkowski had to this entire story and an investigation of the entire matter never succeeded in getting to the bottom of who was involved. After he went to Justice, Benczkowski’s principal function was to defend the practice of torture developed by the Bush Administration. He played a critical role in piecing together a strategy for Gonzales, and later for Mukasey, of refusing to turn over documents relating to torture policy and then making public statements about these policies which were seriously misleading if not intentionally deceptive. Benczkowski’s reputation has been consistent, and he has consistently been a partisan political trench warrior who understands his command of public office as an opportunity to pursue a political agenda, at times a quite crude one.