Jim Dempsey
Vice President for Public Policy
The Center for Democracy and Technology
Jim Dempsey joined CDT at the beginning of 1997. He became Deputy Director in 2001 and Executive Director in 2003. In addition to day-to-day management responsibilities, he works on privacy and electronic surveillance issues and heads CDT's international project, the Global Internet Policy Initiative (GIPI). Prior to joining CDT, Mr. Dempsey was Deputy Director of the Center for National Security Studies. From 1995 to 1996, Mr. Dempsey also served as special counsel to the National Security Archive, a non-governmental organization that uses the Freedom of Information Act to gain the declassification of documents on the U.S. foreign policy.
From 1985 to 1994, Mr. Dempsey was assistant counsel to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights. His primary areas of responsibility for the Subcommittee were oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, privacy and civil liberties. He worked on issues at the intersection of national security and constitutional rights, including terrorism, counterintelligence, and electronic surveillance as well as crime issues, including the federal death penalty, remedies for racial bias in death sentencing, information privacy, and police brutality. Mr. Dempsey has traveled extensively outside the U.S. to speak on civil liberties issues and consult with government officials and human rights organizations.
From 1980 to 1984, Mr. Dempsey was an associate with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Arnold & Porter, where he practiced in areas of government and commercial contracts, energy law, and anti-trust. He also maintained an extensive pro bono representation of death row inmates in federal habeas proceedings. He clerked for the Hon. Robert Braucher of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1979 and from Yale College in 1975.
Mr. Dempsey is author of several articles on Internet policy, including Communications Privacy In The Digital Age: Revitalizing The Federal Wiretap Laws To Enhance Privacy, and co-author of the recently revised and updated (2002) book Terrorism & the Constitution: Sacrificing Civil Liberties in the Name of National Security (with Prof. David Cole of Georgetown law school).
Appearances
- State of the Net 2010 Conference January 27, 2010
- State of the Net Conference 2009 January 14, 2009
- State of the Net Conference West 2008 August 6, 2008
- Location Meets Social Networking, April 25, 2007
- ICAC International Program July 18-21, 2005
- The U.S. Patriot Act and E-Surveillance June 30, 2005
- Wiretapping The Internet: Is VoIP Different? May 20, 2004
- Government Pattern Analysis: Securing Terrorists While Preserving Privacy? March 20, 2003
Biography last updated June 29, 2005