“The lawyer is someone who must stand apart and say, ‘No.’ No is a very hard word.”

“Your reputation is your reservoir. One hole drains the whole thing.”

—James Comey
Address at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, May 20, 2006

Position: Deputy Attorney General
Tenure: December 2003 to April 2005

James Comey does not fit the image of a rebel. In fact, many would characterize the 6’8” attorney as the very definition of a straight arrow. Yet Comey was a central figure in the power struggle over the limits of executive power in the wake of the September 11th attacks. It was a struggle that found him saying no to some of the most powerful people in government, many of whom he considered friends and allies. Comey refused to reauthorize a NSA’s domestic surveillance program because he considered it illegal.

With a law degree from the University of Chicago, Comey began a career as a federal prosecutor in 1985 that included an appointment as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. While serving as Deputy Attorney General in John Ashcroft’s Justice Department, Comey appointed his close friend and former colleague Patrick Fitzgerald to head the Valerie Plame investigation after Ashcroft recused himself.

Comey’s time at the Department of Justice coincided with an intense, but secret confrontation between a number of lawyers in Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) and a group of legal experts providing advice to the Office of the Vice President and the civilian leadership of the Pentagon. The two major battles between them were over a president’s power to order abusive interrogation of prisoners and a president’s power to order domestic surveillance. Comey is primarily known for his role in the latter debate.

Shortly after September 11th, President Bush had signed a secret order allowing the National Security Agency (NSA) (see Russell Tice) to eavesdrop on telephone and e-mail traffic within the United States. This program was among the most secretive of all intelligence operations, with only a handful of officials even knowing of its existence. It required reauthorization by the Attorney General every 45 days.
Ashcroft was hospitalized in March 2004 when reauthorization came up, and Comey was acting AG. On the advice of his staff, notably Jack Goldsmith and Patrick Philbin, Comey refused to reauthorize the program because of concerns over its legality. His refusal prompted a visit to Ashcroft’s hospital bed by then White House Chief Counsel Alberto Gonzales and Chief of Staff Andrew Card. Accounts differ as to whether Ashcroft gave his approval for the program, the existence of which was eventually made public by the New York Times in December 2005.

Comey left the Department of Justice in August 2005 to become Chief Counsel for Lockheed Martin.