Mark S. Zaid is an American
attorney, based in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, with a practice focused on
national security
National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military atta ...
law,
freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
constitutional claims, and government accountability.
In 1998 he founded the James Madison Project, an organization dedicated to reducing government secrecy. It is interested in the
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request:
* Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act
* ...
and government
whistleblower
A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...
s. He is co-editor of ''Litigation Under the Federal Open Government Laws''. He is the co-founder of a legal organization called
Whistleblower Aid Whistleblower Aid is a nonprofit legal assistance organization co-founded by John Tye and Mark Zaid to help whistleblowers in government and the private sector. It provides free legal services as well as support and security services for eligible c ...
, intended to help whistleblowers forward their concerns without incurring legal liability.
Education
Zaid is a 1989 graduate of the
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees.
The University of Roc ...
, and a 1992 graduate of
Albany Law School
Albany Law School is a private law school in Albany, New York. It was founded in 1851 and is the oldest independent law school in the nation. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and has an affiliation agreement with University at A ...
of
Union University
Union University is a private Baptist Christian university in Jackson, Tennessee, with additional campuses in Germantown and Hendersonville. The university is affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention (Southern Baptist Convention). It is ...
in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, where he served as an associate editor of the Albany Law Review.
[Official Mark Zaid website biography]
Accessed October 6, 2019.
While a student at
Albany Law School
Albany Law School is a private law school in Albany, New York. It was founded in 1851 and is the oldest independent law school in the nation. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and has an affiliation agreement with University at A ...
, Zaid interned in the office of New York
Lieutenant Governor Stan Lundine.
Practice
Zaid practices in litigation and lobbying on matters relating to national security, federal employment, foreign sovereign and
diplomatic immunity
Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law by which certain foreign government officials are recognized as having legal immunity from the jurisdiction of another country. , international transactions, international
tort
A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...
s and crimes,
defamation
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
, the Constitution (
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
Fifth Amendments), and the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOI/PA). He practices at Compass Rose Legal Group.
Through his practice, Zaid often represents former or current federal employees, intelligence officers, and whistleblowers who have grievances against agencies of the United States government or foreign governments. Additionally, he represents members of the media and the public in First Amendment and FOI/PA disputes. He has handled national security matters including security clearance revocations/denials, IG investigations, and other employment issues throughout the national security and military communities. He currently teaches the D.C. Bar CLE courses on FOIA and security clearances. He also teaches as an adjunct professor at
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
.
Some of his cases are well known, such as suing
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
for the 1988 terrorist bombing of
Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. The transatlantic leg of the route was operated by ''Clipper Maid of the Seas'', a Boeing ...
, which resulted in a $2.7 billion settlement, the largest of its kind against a foreign government for terrorist activities, and obtaining a court-ordered
injunction
An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in pa ...
in 2004 that effectively shut down the Department of Defense's mandatory
anthrax
Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The sk ...
vaccination program for two years.
Zaid has been quoted in print and online news reports as an expert in national security law and
FOIA law. He has appeared as a commentator on CNN and MSNBC.
On September 8, 2016,
Thomas J. Colbert, the author of the book
The Last Master Outlaw, and Mark Zaid filed a lawsuit to compel the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
to release its
D.B. Cooper case file under the
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request:
* Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act
* ...
. The suit alleges that the FBI suspended active investigation of the Cooper case "in order to undermine the theory that Rackstraw is D.B. Cooper so as to prevent embarrassment for the bureau's failure to develop evidence sufficient to prosecute him for the crime."
[Lawsuit filed against FBI to make D.B. Cooper investigation file public](_blank)
''The Oregonian'' (September 8, 2016), retrieved September 22, 2016.
He was a member of the legal team, led by
Andrew Bakaj
Andrew P. Bakaj (; uk, Андрі́й П. Бакай; b. 1982) is a Washington, D.C. attorney and former intelligence officer with the Central Intelligence Agency. He was the principal attorney representing the whistleblower who filed the initi ...
, representing the whistleblower whose complaint against President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
sparked a
major political scandal and led to the launching of an
impeachment inquiry against the president. Zaid had been critical of Trump long before he began representing the whistleblower. He said the team is also working with a second whistleblower who has spoken with authorities, but had not filed a formal complaint .
In February 2020, federal authorities indicted a Michigan man for threatening Zaid and his
Ukraine whistleblower client by email in November 2019, purportedly saying, "All traitors must die miserable deaths." The man allegedly sent the message the day after President Trump, at a rally in Louisiana, held up a photo of Zaid and said, "From the lawyer, a sleazeball," before reading tweets from Zaid predicting the president would not last out his first term. The man pleaded guilty in December 2020 and in June 2021 was sentenced to twelve months and one day in prison, followed by three years of probation.
Citing his "'high profile' work," Zaid's malpractice carrier,
Hanover Insurance Group, dropped his coverage in 2020. The ''
ABA Journal
The ''ABA Journal'' (since 1984, formerly ''American Bar Association Journal'', 1915–1983, evolved from '' Annual Bulletin'', 1908–1914) is a monthly legal trade magazine and the flagship publication of the American Bar Association. It is no ...
'' specifically cited as the reason the insurance company had "no appetite" for Zaid's work for the Whistle-blower whose report lead the
first impeachment of Donald Trump
Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, was impeached for the first time by the House of Representatives of the 116th United States Congress on December 18, 2019. The House adopted two articles of impeachment against Trump: abus ...
. Both the speculation that Hanover had done it for that reason, and the outrage against it, were widely reported.
In August 2022, Zaid's firm took on former White House security advisor
Olivia Troye
Olivia Troye is an American national security official who worked on national security and homeland security issues at the National Counterterrorism Center, the United States Department of Energy Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, a ...
's defense in a defamation lawsuit by former ambassador
Richard Grenell
Richard Allen Grenell (born September 18, 1966) is an American political operative, diplomat, TV personality, and public relations consultant who served as Acting Director of National Intelligence in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet in 2020. ...
. Zaid also filed a lawsuit on behalf of former
Monkees
The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was conce ...
band member
Micky Dolenz
George Michael Dolenz Jr. (born March 8, 1945) is an American actor, musician, TV producer and businessman. He is best known as the drummer and one of three primary vocalists for the pop-rock band the Monkees (1966–1970, and multiple reunions ...
against the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
to obtain its file on the band from the 1960s for its public opposition to the controversial
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
.
Whistleblower Aid
In September 2017, Zaid and former U.S. State Department whistleblower
John Tye co-founded
Whistleblower Aid Whistleblower Aid is a nonprofit legal assistance organization co-founded by John Tye and Mark Zaid to help whistleblowers in government and the private sector. It provides free legal services as well as support and security services for eligible c ...
, a legal organization that assists people in the government and the private sector to safely report lawbreaking.
Initially focused on employees and contractors of the
U.S. federal government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 ...
, Whistleblower Aid emphasizes it is not
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...
. "No one should ever send classified information to Whistleblower Aid," the firm states. "Whistleblower Aid will never assist clients or prospective clients with leaking classified information." Instead, would-be whistleblowers with classified information will be directed to investigators with security clearances to help expose wrongdoing without breaking the law or incurring criminal liability.
See also
* ''
United States v. Reynolds
''United States v. Reynolds'', 345 U.S. 1 (1953), is a landmark legal case in 1953 that saw the formal recognition of the state secrets privilege, a judicially recognized extension of presidential power.
Overview
Three employees of the Radio ...
''
*
Trump–Ukraine scandal
The "Trump–Ukraine scandal" refers to efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to coerce Ukraine and other countries into providing damaging narratives about 2020 Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden, and giving misinformatio ...
References
External links
*
The James Madison ProjectWhistleblower Aid*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaid, Mark
Albany Law School alumni
University of Rochester alumni
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Whistleblowing in the United States