Committee Members

About

The Standing Committee on Law and National Security celebrated its 60 year anniversary in 2022 and is the oldest Standing Committee in the ABA. The Committee, since 1962, has sustained an unwavering commitment to educating the Bar and the public on the importance of the rule of law in preserving the freedoms of democracy and our national security. Founded by then-ABA President and later Supreme Court Justice Lewis J. Powell, the Committee focuses on legal aspects of national security with particular attention in recent years to issues raised by legal responses to terrorist events. The Committee conducts studies, sponsors programs and administers working groups on law and national security-related issues to serve members and the profession. Activities assist policymakers, educate lawyers, the media and the public, and enable the Committee to make recommendations to the ABA. The 11-member Committee is aided by an Advisory Committee, Counselors, and liaisons from ABA entities.

Standing Committee

Chair: Stephen W. Preston, Partner and Chair, Defense, National Security and Government Contracts practices, WilmerHale. Former:  General Counsel, Department of Defense; General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency; General Counsel, Department of the Navy.

Angeline Chen, General Counsel, Chief Administrative Officer and Corporate Secretary, Progress Federal Solutions. Former:  Of Counsel, DLA Piper, Vice President and General Counsel, Siemens, and former Deputy Associate General Counsel at the National Security Agency.

Lauren  M. Cherry, Judge Advocate, U.S. Navy.  Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center; Fellow at Georgetown Center on National Security.

Gary Corn, Program Director & Adjunct Professor, Technology, Law, & Security Program, American University Washington College of Law.  Retired Colonel, U.S. Army; former: Staff Judge Advocate, U.S. Cyber Command; Deputy Legal Counsel, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Operational Law Branch Chief, Judge Advocate General, U.S. Army. 

Mary DeRosa, Professor from Practice, Georgetown University Law Center. Former: Alternate Representative of the United States to the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly; Deputy Assistant and Deputy Counsel to the President, Executive Office of the President; Legal Adviser, National Security Council; Chief Counsel for National Security, Senate Judiciary Committee; Special Counsel to the General Counsel, U.S. Department of Defense.

Laura K. Donohue, Anne Fleming Research Professor and Director, Center on National Security and the Law and Center on Privacy and Technology, Georgetown Law; Senior Scholar, Center for the Constitution, Georgetown Law.

Brian Egan, Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Former Partner, Steptoe & Johnson; Legal Adviser, State Department; Legal Adviser, National Security Council; Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Counsel to the President, Executive Office of the President; Assistant General Counsel for Enforcement and Intelligence, Department of the Treasury; Special Assistant to the President and Associate Counsel to the President, Department of State.

John T. Martinez, Vice President and General Counsel, GE Aviation. Former VP and GC of Raytheon Intelligence and Space and former Deputy General Counsel for the Director of National Intelligence and Senior Associate General Counsel at the CIA.

Mary McCord, Professor of Law and Executive Director, Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, Georgetown Law. Former Acting Assistant Attorney General and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Department of Justice; Assistant U.S. Attorney, Deputy Chief of the Appellate Division, Chief of the Criminal Division, District of Columbia.

Elisa Poteat, Attorney, Foreign Investment Review Staff, National Security Division, U.S. Department of Justice. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Columbia.

Allison Stevens, General Counsel, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Former Deputy General Counsel and Associate General Counsel for Intelligence Oversight, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; Chief Legal Officer, Intelligence Systems Support Office, Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence; and attorney, National Security and Military Affairs Division, U.S. Air Force Office of General Counsel.

Special Advisors to the Committee

Harry W. Baumgarten, Assistant Attorney General, State of Delaware. Former Vice President and General Counsel, Grundy Commons.

Thomas P. Bossert, President at Trinity Cyber, Inc., National Security Analyst at ABC News and, Senior Fellow at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the U.S. Atlantic Council. Former U.S. Homeland Security Advisor for President George W. Bush.

Carter H. Burwell, Counsel, Debevoise & Plimpton and Adjunct professor and Fellow at the National Security Institute, George Mason University, Antonin Scalia Law School. Former staff lawyer, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

Alex Joel, Scholar-in-Residence and Adjunct Professor, Washington College of Law, American University. Former Chief, Office of Civil Liberties, Privacy and Transparency, Office of the Director of National Intelligence; attorney, Office of General Counsel, CIA.

Robert S. Litt, Of Counsel, Morrison & Foerster. Former General Counsel, Office of the Director of National Intelligence; Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, Department of Justice; Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General, DOJ; Assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York.

James E. McPherson, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (ret.). Former: Under Secretary, Department of the Army; General Counsel, Department of the Army; Acting Secretary, Department of the Army; Executive Director, National Association of Attorneys General; General Counsel, Counterintelligence Field Activity; Judge Advocate General, U.S. Navy.

Tracy L Reynolds, Judge Advocate, United States Navy.

Laura West, Associate Counsel, Cyber, AI & Security U.S. Patent & Trademark Office; Former Chair, National Security Department at the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center & School, Charlottesville, Virginia. Former Deputy Chief, United States Cyber Command; Assistant Executive Officer & Chief Commissioner (Army Court of Criminal Appeals), U.S. Army Legal Services Agency.

Advisory Committee

Chair: Lala Qadir, Senior Director for Technology Security and AI Policy, Microsoft, Former Chief of Staff, National Security Division, White House Office of Science and Technology.  Former Associate Counsel, Covington & Burling, and George Washington Law School Professorial Lecturer, Artificial Intelligence: Law and Policy.

Leonard Bailey, Former Special Counsel for National Security, Criminal Division, Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, U.S. Department of Justice. Former Special Counsel and Special Investigative Counsel for DOJ’s Inspector General.  

Yvette Bourcicot, Former Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army Manpower and Reserve Affairs.

Carrie Cordero, General Counsel, Center for a New American Security, former Counsel to the DOJ Assistant Attorney General for National Security and Senior Associate General Counsel at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Former director of national security studies at Georgetown Law.

Courtney Elwood,  Headland Consulting LLC; Former General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency and former associate counsel to the president, deputy counsel to the vice president, and deputy chief of staff and counselor to the attorney general. Former partner, Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick and former clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist.  

Claire Finkelstein, Algernon Biddle Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School; Founder and Academic Director, Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law; Distinguished Research Fellow, Annenberg Public Policy Center; Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute.

Nancy Fortenberry, Former General Counsel,President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.

Grant Harris, Assistant Secretary of Commerce Industry and Analysis.

Darrin Hostetler, Chief Compliance Officer, The Boeing Company.

Margaret K. Hu, Professor of Law and Director, Digital Democracy Lab, William & Mary Law School; Research Affiliate, Institute for Computation and Data Sciences, Penn State University. Former Special Policy Counsel, Office of the Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Discrimination, Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice; Attorney General’s Honors Program.

Sarah Istel, Deputy General Counsel, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and former Counsel, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.  Former Senior Associate, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. 

Jamil Jaffer, Founder and Executive Director, National Security Institute; Assistant Professor of Law and Director, National Security Law & Policy Program, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University; Vice President for Strategy & Business Development, IronNet Cybersecurity. Former Chief Counsel/Senior Advisor, Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Senior Counsel, House Intelligence Committee; Associate Counsel to the President; Counsel to the Assistant AG for National Security at DOJ.

Darin Johnson, Associate Professor, Howard University School of Law; Senior Peace Fellow, Public International Law and Policy Group. Former Assistant General Counsel, Department of the Army; Captain, U.S. Army; Attorney-advisor, Office of the Legal Adviser, Department of State; Legal Advisor, U.S. Embassy to Iraq; Chief of Staff, Office of the Special Coordinator for Middle East Transitions, Department of State; Adjunct Professor and Lecturer, Georgetown University Law Center; Adjunct Lecturer, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Texas Southern University; Adjunct Lecturer, Washington College of Law, American University.

Amy Keating, Chief Legal and Administrative Officer Glean Technologies.

Jason Klitenic, Partner Holland & Knight, where he leads the firm's National Security practice. He previously served in senior positions in government, Former General Counsel, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Deputy General Counsel Department of Homeland Security and Deputy Associate Attorney General, Department of Justice.

Glenn McKeown, VP, General Counsel, Secretary, Aerospace Corporation.

Jennifer O'Connor, Vice President and General Counsel, Harvard University

Raj Parekh, Chief of Corporate Enforcement, U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security.

Sunita Patel, Senior Assistant General Counsel, Product Security, Micron; Former Deputy Assistant National Cyber Director for Technology Security, Office of the National Cyber Director.  Former Chief Counsel, National Counterintelligence and Security Center, Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Dakota Rudesill, Associate Professor of Law, Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.  Scholar, teacher, and practitioner of national security law and policy, focusing on secrecy, legislation, use of force, and nuclear weapons.  Has advised senior leaders in all three branches of the federal government, including on a presidential transition team, a presidential task force, in the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC), and a U.S. Senate committee professional staff. 

Erik Swabb, Partner, Wilmer Hale

Alexandra Yestrumskas, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Investment Security, US Department of Treasury

Special Advisors to the Advisory Committee

Stewart Baker, Retired Partner, Steptoe & Johnson. Former Assistant Secretary for Policy, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; General Counsel, Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction; and General Counsel, National Security Agency. 

Spike Bowman, Distinguished Fellow, University of Virginia School of Law. Former Deputy Director, Office of National Counterintelligence Executive; Deputy General Counsel, National Security, FBI; and Chief, Intelligence Issues Group, National Security Branch.

Joel F. Brenner, Principal, Joel Brenner LLC and Senior Fellow, MIT Center for International Studies. Former National Counterintelligence Executive; Mission Manager, Counterintelligence, Office of the Director of National Intelligence; and Inspector General, National Security Agency.

Glenn Gerstell, Senior Adviser, CSIS, and former General Counsel, National Security Agency. 

Susan Ginsburg, Co-founder and CEO, Criticality Sciences and Member, Department of Homeland Security’s Quadrennial Review Committee. Former: Principal, U.S. Civil Security, LLC; Fellow and head of Mobility and Security Program, Migration Policy Institute; and Senior Counsel, 9/11 Commission.

David Graham, Former: Distinguished Fellow, Center on National Security Law, University of Virginia School of Law; Executive Director, Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School; Judge Advocate, U.S. Army; and Director, Center for Law and Military Operations, JAG Legal Center and School.

Christine Healey, Former: General Counsel, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; Counsel, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; and consultant and senior counsel, FBI 9/11 Review Commission.

Adam Pearlman, Founder and Managing Director Lexpat Global Services, LLC 

Jill Rhodes, Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer, Option Care, Inc. Former: Deputy Chief of Staff, Director of National Intelligence; Assistant Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Education and Training; and attorney at DHS Office of the General Counsel and Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

Paul Rosenzweig, founder, Red Branch Law & Consulting PLLC; Senior Editor, Journal of National Security Law. Former Acting Assistant Secretary for International Affairs and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Department of Homeland Security.

Scott Silliman, Former Deputy Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Military Commission Review; Director Emeritus, Center on Law, Ethics and National Security; Professor of the Practice of Law, Duke University School of Law. Former Judge Advocate, Air Force.

Kay Wakatake, Judge Advocate General, U.S. Army. Former Officer-In-Charge, Mannheim Law Center, Germany;  Brigade Judge Advocate, Iraq.