Jim Baker ran the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review at the Justice Department both before and after 9/11 – the office responsible for handling extraordinarily sensitive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) applications.
On The Oath, Jim discusses the FISA process and the ethical obligations of lawyers in that important unit that appear before federal judges ex parte (without opposing counsel) to obtain court-ordered authorization to conduct surveillance in crucial national security cases. Jim also discusses his work as the General Counsel of the FBI and several fascinating issues that arose during his tenure, including the debate over encryption following the San Bernardino terrorist attack, the “Going Dark” problem, and how the FBI addressed a difficult issue that affected the work of the storied FBI Laboratory.
Jim is the Director of National Security and Cybersecurity at the R Street Institute and teaches at Harvard Law School.
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Read the transcript here.
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