Mark Zaid

Mark S. Zaid is a Washington DC attorney, with a practice focus on national security law, free speech constitutional claims and government accountability. He was named as a 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 DC Superlawyer for his work on behalf of national security whistleblowers. He founded the James Madison Project in 1998, an organization dedicated to reduce government secrecy. It is interested in the Freedom of Information Act and government whistleblowers. He is the co-editor of Litigation Under the Federal Open Government Laws.

Zaid is a 1989 graduate of the University of Rochester, and a 1992 graduate of Albany Law School of Union University in New York, where he served as an Associate Editor of the Albany Law Review.

Zaid practices in litigation and lobbying on matters relating to national security, federal employment, foreign sovereign and diplomatic immunity, international transactions, international torts and crimes, defamation, the Constitution (First and Fifth Amendments), and the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOI/PA).

Through his practice, Zaid often represents former or current federal employees, intelligence officers, 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 DC Bar CLE courses on FOIA and security clearances.

Some of his cases are well-known, including such as suing Libya for the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103 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 in 2004 effectively shutting down the Department of Defense's mandatory anthrax vaccination program for two years.

Zaid has been quoted recently 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.

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