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Insights from a Former FBI Agent and Lessons from FOIA/PA Litigation
Join us for a lunchtime discussion featuring Mike German and Julia Harumi Mass, who will provide background on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act litigation against the FBI, with a focus on interpreting and understanding FBI files and an overview of FBI investigatory practices.
Refreshments will be served.
CLE credit is available.
Mike German is a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program, which seeks to ensure that our government respects human rights and fundamental freedoms in conducting the fight against terrorism. His work focuses on law enforcement and intelligence oversight and reform. Prior to joining the Brennan Center, Mr. German served as the policy counsel for national security and privacy for the American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office.
A sixteen-year veteran of federal law enforcement, Mr. German served as a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where he specialized in domestic terrorism and covert operations. As an undercover agent, German twice infiltrated extremist groups using constitutionally sound law enforcement techniques. These operations successfully prevented terrorist attacks by winning criminal convictions against terrorists. He also served as a counterterrorism instructor at the FBI National Academy. There, he taught courses on extremism in democratic societies and developed a graduate-level training program for state, local and international law enforcement officers.
Julia H. Mass has been a staff attorney at the ACLU of Northern California since 2003. She currently specializes in immigrants’ rights and national security. Current cases include: FOIA litigation for documents related to FBI surveillance of Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian communities, a FOIA/Privacy Act case related to FBI surveillance of on-line journalists, and the ACLU’s due process challenge to the national Terrorist Screen Center’s “No Fly List.”
Location:
ACLU of Northern California
39 Drumm St.
San Francisco, CA
Hosted by: CAIR-SFBA, ACLU of Northern California, AAAJ-Asian Law Caucus, and NLG-SF.
