National Security

Jeffrey Smith heads our national and homeland security practice, which regularly counsels both US and foreign companies on a wide range of national security issues. His practice includes advising major defense and aerospace companies and representing major media organizations and individuals with respect to First Amendment issues and unauthorized disclosures of classified information. He has frequently represented prominent individuals in congressional investigations and federal prosecutions. He also represents major universities on national security issues.

Mr. Smith is a former General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and currently serves on the Department of Defense Legal Policy Advisory Board. He has also served as General Counsel of the Senate Armed Services Committee and was Senator Sam Nunn's designee to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Iran/Contra Committee. Prior to working for the Senate, he was the Assistant Legal Adviser for Law Enforcement and Intelligence at the State Department. Earlier, as an Army Judge Advocate General officer, he served as the Pentagon's lawyer for the Panama Canal negotiations.

In 1992 and 1993, Mr. Smith served as the chief of the Clinton Transition Team at the US Department of Defense. He also chaired the Joint Security Commission established in 1993 by Secretary of Defense Les Aspin and CIA Director James Woolsey to examine the security procedures of the defense and intelligence communities and the companies that contract with them. In addition, he served on the congressionally mandated Commission on Roles and Missions of the Armed Services.

National Security Representative Matters

• Represents major European defense and aerospace companies with respect to mergers and acquisitions, contracting with the US government, relationships with the US government, export controls, issues of foreign ownership, and the performance of highly classified contracts.
• Represents major US defense and aerospace companies on a wide range of national security and government contracts issues, including transactions, internal investigations, congressional investigations, export controls, and sensitive national security issues.
• Represented Finmeccanica SpA in its acquisitions of DRS Technologies, Inc.
• Represented BAE Systems in its acquisitions of ArmorHoldings, United Defense, and DigitalNet.
• Represented DFI in its acquisition by Detica Group plc.
• Represents In-Q-Tel, the company established by the CIA to acquire high technology solutions for the US intelligence community.
• Represented Ambassador L. Paul Bremer with respect to his service as Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, including testimony at Congressional hearings.
• Represents the Newspaper Association of America and major media associations on "leaks" of classified information and First Amendment issues.
• Represents former senior officials in matters related to national security, including: Publication of manuscripts, negotiation of film rights, and donation of papers. Clients include former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, former Secretary of Defense the late Robert S. McNamara, and several authors, including former Senator Bob Graham and former CIA senior officer John O'Connell.
• Represents Mark Boal, the screenwriter for, among other films, "Zero Dark Thirty."
• Represented several former senior government officials and current and former members of Congress in sensitive investigations, including criminal investigations and prosecutions, involving national security.
• Represented Martha Stewart in the House of Energy and Commerce Committee investigation of alleged insider trading.
• Represents several leading universities on public policy and national security matters.