National and Homeland Security

John Bellinger is a partner in the firm's national security and public international law practices. Before joining Arnold & Porter LLP, Mr. Bellinger held several senior Presidential appointments in the U.S. government, including as The Legal Adviser to the Department of State from 2005 to 2009 under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Senior Associate Counsel to the President and Legal Adviser to the National Security Council (NSC) at the White House from 2001-2005.

A globally known authority on public international law, Mr. Bellinger represents individuals, corporations, and sovereign governments in litigation in U.S. courts and before international institutions.  He has extensive experience in U.S. foreign relations litigation involving the Alien Tort Statute, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, the immunities of foreign governments and government officials, and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.  He also advises clients on other public international law matters, including international humanitarian law and human rights law and treaty law.  He is a leading U.S. authority on the Law of the Sea Convention.  He also counsels U.S. and foreign clients on national security legal and policy issues, including U.S. and multilateral financial sanctions and asset controls, the extraterritorial application of U.S. criminal and civil laws, and transactions reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

As the State Department Legal Adviser-a Senate-confirmed position and the most senior international lawyer in the U.S. Government-Mr. Bellinger directed more than 170 lawyers on domestic and international law matters affecting U.S. foreign relations.  Before joining the State Department, Mr. Bellinger managed Secretary Rice's confirmation process and co-directed her State Department transition team.  In 2009, Mr. Bellinger received the Secretary of State's Distinguished Service Award.

Mr. Bellinger has argued cases before the International Court of Justice (Mexico v. United States-(Medellin)) and the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague.  He has appeared on numerous briefs in U.S. federal courts, including the Supreme Court, in litigation involving international law issues.

As Legal Adviser to the NSC, Mr. Bellinger advised the President, Cabinet officials, the National Security Adviser, and NSC staff on a wide variety of national security and international law issues.  He was present in the White House during the 9/11 attacks and later represented the White House in dealings with the 9/11Commission; he was one of the principal drafters of the legislation that created the Director of National Intelligence.

Prior to his service in the Bush Administration, Mr. Bellinger served as Counsel for National Security Matters in the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice (1997-2001); Of Counsel to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (1996); General Counsel of the Commission on the Roles and Capabilities of the U.S. Intelligence Community (1995-1996); and Special Assistant to Director of Central Intelligence William Webster (1988-1991).

Mr. Bellinger is an Adjunct Senior Fellow in International and National Security Law at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he directs events on international law.  He speaks regularly about international law matters on U.S. and international television and radio, and has given lectures at more than two dozen U.S. and foreign universities and law schools and numerous international law conferences.  He has testified before Congress on a variety of international law issues.  He is the author of numerous law review articles and op-eds on international law, including op-eds in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, and The International Herald Tribune. Mr. Bellinger is a senior contributor to The Lawfare Blog: Hard National Security Choices, part of the Harvard Law School-Brookings Institution Project on Law and Security.

Mr. Bellinger is a member of the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on International Law and the Department of Defense Legal Policy Board; one of four U.S. Members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague; and a member of the U.S. "National Group", which nominates judges to the International Court of Justice.  He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law, and the American Law Institute. 

Mr. Bellinger is a graduate of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and he holds an MA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and a JD from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard International Law Journal.

National and Homeland Security Representative Matters

• Counsel for a subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation in securing CFIUS approval for an investment in a Texas petroleum equipment manufacturer
• Counsel for a Kongsberg Gruppen in securing CFIUS approval for the purchase of assets of a New York defense contractor
• Prepared a brief for the Seventh Circuit on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as amicus curiae in the Alien Tort Statute case of Flomo v. Firestone
• Prepared a brief for the Ninth Circuit on behalf of the National Foreign Trade Council and other trade associations as amici curiae in Carijano v. Occidental Petroleum (involving forum non conveniens)
• Prepared a brief for the Ninth Circuit on behalf of the National Foreign Trade Council and other trade associations as amici curiae in the Alien Tort Statute case of Bauman v. DaimlerChrysler
• Prepared two briefs for the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of BP USA, Caterpillar, ConocoPhillips, General Electric, Honeywell, IBM, and Monsanto as amici curiae in the Alien Tort Statute case of Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum
• Testified on behalf of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform at a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments
• Representing a former senior U.S. official in connection with a criminal investigation by a Latin American government
• Prepared a brief for the D.C. Circuit on behalf of the Government of Colombia asserting immunity on behalf of the former President of Colombia in connection with a subpoena for testimony in Giraldo v. Drummond Company
• Advising the former President of a Latin American country on immunity issues in connection with an Alien Tort Statute suit
• Represented the current President of a South Asian country on immunity issues in connection with a civil suit
• Advising the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on issues relating to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea