James B. Comey

James B. Comey was Deputy Attorney General of the United States, serving in President George W. Bush's administration. As Deputy Attorney General, Comey became the second-highest ranking official in the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and ran the day-to-day operations of the Department, serving in that position from December 2003 through August 2005. He was appointed to the position after serving as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In December 2003, as Deputy Attorney General, Comey appointed the U.S. Attorney in Chicago, close friend and former colleague Patrick Fitzgerald, as Special Counsel to head the CIA leak grand jury investigation after Attorney General John Ashcroft recused himself. In August 2005, Comey left the DOJ and he became General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Lockheed Martin.

Education

Comey graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1982, majoring in chemistry and religion. His senior thesis analyzed the liberal theologian Reinhold Niebuhr and the conservative televangelist Jerry Falwell, emphasizing their common belief in public action. [ [http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/politics/n_9353/] "Mr. Comey Goes To Washington." (New York magazine, October 2003). Retrieved May 21, 2007. ]

He then attended the University of Chicago Law School, graduating in 1985.

Career, 1985-2005

After law school, Comey served as a law clerk for then-United States District Judge John M. Walker, Jr. in Manhattan. Then, he was an associate for Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in their New York Office. He next joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, where he worked from 1987 to 1993. While there, he served as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division.

From 1996 through 2001, Comey served as Managing Assistant U.S. Attorney in charge of the Richmond Division of the United States Attorney's office for the Eastern District of Virginia. While in Richmond, Comey also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Richmond School of Law. He then was the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, from January 2002 to the time of his confirmation as Deputy Attorney General on December 11, 2003 [ [http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/comey-bio.html Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey] "The White House." (no date). Retrieved May 18, 2007.]

Comey is credited as the main protagonist in the 2004 Martha Stewart obstruction criminal conviction, stating "This criminal case is about lying - lying to the F.B.I., lying to the S.E.C., lying to investors." [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9402E6D91E30F936A35755C0A9659C8B63 Prosecuting Martha Stewart: The overview] NYTimes June 5, 2003]

NSA Domestic Wiretapping Investigation

In early January 2006, the New York Times, as part of their investigation into alleged domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency, reported that Comey, who was Acting Attorney General during the March 2004 surgical hospitalization of John Ashcroft, refused to "certify" the legality of central aspects of the NSA program at that time. The certification was required under existing White House procedures to continue the program. After Comey's refusal, the newspaper reported, Andrew H. Card Jr., White House Chief of Staff, and Alberto R. Gonzales, then White House counsel and future Attorney General, made an emergency visit to the George Washington University Hospital [http://www.gwhospital.com] , to attempt to win approval directly from Ashcroft for the program [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/01/politics/01spy.html] . Comey confirmed these events took place (but declined to confirm the specific program) in testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on 16 May 2007. [Comey Senate Judiciary Committee Transcript, May 16, 2007. Published and produced by Congressional Quarterly, Inc. [http://gulcfac.typepad.com/georgetown_university_law/files/comey.transcript.pdf] ] ] ] ] ] ] FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, like Comey, also supported Ashcroft's decision; both men were prepared to resign over the issue if the White House overruled the Department of Justice ruling over the wiretap issue. [ [http://edition.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/17/gonzales.ashcroft.ap/index.html FBI chief's notes: Ashcroft 'feeble,' 'stressed' after Gonzales visit] ] FBI director Mueller's notes on the March 10, 2004 incident, which were released to a House Judiciary committee, confirms that he "Saw [the] AG,....John Ashcroft in the room. AG is feeble, barely articulate, clearly stressed." [ [http://edition.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/17/gonzales.ashcroft.ap/index.html FBI chief's notes: Ashcroft 'feeble,' 'stressed' after Gonzales visit] ] As a result of this controversy, and the overriding of his powers, Comey offered his resignation from the Department of Justice. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxHjWYA50Ds]

After leaving public office

In April 2005, Comey announced that he was leaving the Department of Justice in the fall. In August 2005, Comey was appointed as General Counsel and a Senior Vice President of Lockheed Martin. He and his wife Patrice are the parents of five children.

In January 2008, an article appeared in Corporate Counsel magazine that called Mr. Comey's ethical reputation into question. The article stated that Mr. Comey may not have performed due diligence in his role as lead counsel for Lockheed Martin relative to the events surrounding the Deepwater program. Beginning in 2007, the program has been subjected to wide-ranging scrutiny from the Congress, the GAO, the Department of Homeland Security and even the Department of Justice -- the same organization Mr. Comey led as its deputy attorney general. In the winter of 2007, Lockheed Martin acknowledged to the press that it had been notified by the Department of Justice that the department was looking into the matter.

According to a December 2007 article in Washingtonian magazine, Mr Comey bought a home for $2.2 million in McLean, Virginia. McLean is a well-to-do suburb of Washington DC.

Open here for more info: http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/homegarden/5844.html

Testimony before congressional committees

In May 2007, Comey testified before both the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and the House Judiciary subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law on the U.S. Attorney dismissal scandal. His testimony contradicted that of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that the firings had been due to poor performance on the part of some of the dismissed prosecutors. Comey stressed that the Justice Department had to be perceived as nonpartisan and nonpolitical in order to function.Cquote
The Department of Justice, in my view, is run by political appointees of the president. The U.S. attorneys are political appointees of the president. But once they take those jobs and run this institution, it's very important in my view for that institution to be another in American life, that -- because my people had to stand up before juries of all stripes, talk to sheriffs of all stripes, judges of all stripes. They had to be seen as the good guys, and not as either this administration or that administration. [James B. Comey. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/07/AR2007050701299.html Testimony Transcript] . Hearing of the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law. House Committee on the Judiciary. May 3, 2007. Retrieved May 18, 2007.
(Congressional Quarterly transcripts, via the Washington Post.) ]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.usdoj.gov/dag/speech/2005/dagfarewell.htm Department of Justice Farewell Address]
* [http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/comey-bio.html James B. Comey White House Biography]
* [http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/politics/n_9353/ New York magazine article, October 2003]
* [http://www.usdoj.gov/dag/jamescomeybio.html James B. Comey Professional Biography, United States Department of Justice]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/01/politics/01spy.html Eric Lichtblau and James Risen, Justice Deputy Resisted Parts of Spy Program, New York Times, January 1, 2006]
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11079547/site/newsweek/ February 6, 2006 Newsweek article, "Palace Revolt"]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050301137.html May 4, 2007 Washington Post article, "Former Supervisor Extols Fired Prosecutors"]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/17/washington/17comey.html May 17, 2007 New York Times article, "Loyal to Bush but Big Thorn in Republicans’ Side"]
* [http://gulcfac.typepad.com/georgetown_university_law/files/comey.transcript.pdf Transcript of James Comey's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, May 15, 2007]
* [http://www.greenbag.org/docs/Comey10GB2d439_2007.pdf "Intelligence Under the Law", a speech delivered by James Comey to the National Security Agency on Law Day, May 20, 2005]
* [http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1198058690626 January 1, 2008 Corporate Counsel article - "Attention Must Be Paid"]