Attorney in Foggo Case Seeks to “Opt Out” of Security Clearance
A defense attorney in the prosecution of former CIA executive director Kyle “Dusty” Foggo and contractor Brent Wilkes on bribery charges has refused to undergo a background investigation or submit to other procedures required in order to obtain a security clearance for access to classified information.
Defense counsel should not be required “to undergo any kind of a process by which my adversary in an adversarial system is going to determine whether or not I can represent my client,” argued celebrity attorney Mark Geragos, who represents Brent Wilkes.
Instead, he indicated, the government should simply provide the defense with all exculpatory material.
But it doesn’t work that way, government attorneys said. In a June 8 pleading (pdf), they asked the court to require imposition of a security clearance, administered by a judicial branch official if necessary, or to take other steps to safeguard up to 15,000 pages of classified discovery materials.
The unusual dispute was first reported by Justin Rood in “Attorney Geragos Accused of Subtle Extortion,” ABC News’ The Blotter, June 11.
To secure the U.S. bio-infrastructure, maintain global leadership in biotechnology, and safeguard American citizens from emerging threats to their privacy, the federal government must modernize its approach to human genetic and biological data.
To ensure an energy transition that brings broad based economic development, participation, and direct benefits to communities, we need federal policy that helps shape markets. Unfortunately, there is a large gap in understanding of how to leverage federal policy making to support access to capital and credit.
From use to testing to deployment, the scaffolding for responsible integration of AI into high-risk use cases is just not there.
OPM’s new HR 2.0 initiative is entering hostile terrain. Those who have followed federal HR modernization for years desperately want this effort to succeed.