Dr. James Baker

Biography

Mr. Baker has worked on numerous national security matters throughout his career. He began as a federal prosecutor, focusing on national security investigations and prosecutions under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). From 2001 to 2007, he served as Counsel for Intelligence Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he headed the Office of Intelligence Policy Review. In this position, he was responsible for developing, coordinating, and implementing national security policy related to intelligence and counterintelligence matters. Mr. Baker has provided legal policy advice to the Attorney General, the U.S. Intelligence Community, and the White House on a range of national security issues over the years and conducted oversight of the Intelligence Community and the FBI on behalf of the Attorney General. In 2007, he was a Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He also held the position of Associate Deputy Attorney General at the Justice Department from 2009 to 2011, where he was responsible for national security and cybersecurity. From 2014 to 2018, he served as General Counsel for the FBI. In 2018, Mr. Baker became a Visiting Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Lawfare Institute. From 2019 to 2020, he served as Director of National Security and Cybersecurity at the R Street Institute and worked as a legal analyst for CNN. He has experience in the private sector with Verizon, Bridgewater Associates, and Twitter, and he is currently a consultant.

Research Interests

Courses