On September 25, former Professorial Lecturer in Law Jim Petrila sat down with John A. Rizzo, JD '70, former CIA Acting General Counsel, for a conversation about his life and career. During the discussion, students were able to ask the 33-year career lawyer his advice on entering the national security law field. They also discussed Mr. Rizzo's book, Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA, which describes not only the large issues and cases he worked on as a career CIA lawyer, but also details how lawyers fit into the fabric of the US government's intelligence program. The event was hosted by the National Intelligence Law Association.
Q&A
Q: What, in your opinion, makes for a good career lawyer in the national security and intelligence field?
JR: "I would say it was the interpersonal element. I learned early on that while it seemed counterintuitive that the CIA would want lawyers, they value having a lawyer there over his or her shoulder. The key was to gain their trust because you are a lawyer after all. You also need to be able to relate on a personal level to those you are serving as clients, I found that absolutely essential. I just try to relate to everybody, I listen to them and to what issues they were facing and help to find a solution."
Q: Of all the cases you handled during your 30-year career at the CIA, what do you think was the most impactful for the field?
JR: "It's very tempting to say the post-9/11 era, but if you look back I would say it was Iran Contra in the mid-80s. I was still relatively young, but it was my first up-close look at a Washington political national security firestorm."
Q: For aspiring lawyers who want to work in national security, are there any areas you would recommend they specialize in?
JR: "The areas that the CIA hires for lawyers really run the gamete. The CIA has a massive litigation and contracts law area, but it also needs lawyers who specialize in administrative law, and believe it or not, over the years the CIA has been known to hire tax specialists and environmental law specialists."
Q: What was the most difficult part of your job?
JR: "While the issues I worked on were hard to deal with, I always found it difficult to keep the work I was doing quiet. Even when there were questions that were challenging, there were people on from the outside world, whose views I respected, and I would have enjoyed getting their perspective. Because of the nature of the work, I could not. Having to keep secrets and not being able to share any details at all about what I was doing on a daily basis was always tough."
Q: What was the most rewarding part of your job?
JR: "Even from my first day, I was able to go home at night and think about how in some small way, I was working to help my country. Even when I was a very junior person and didn't have any seniority, I still felt like I contributed something to the country."