Stewart Baker practices law at Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, D.C. His law practice covers such fields as homeland security, international trade, cybersecurity, data protection, travel industry regulation, and foreign investment regulation. He is the author of Skating on Stilts: Why We Aren’t Stopping Tomorrow’s Terrorism, and he blogs on law, cybersecurity, and privacy at www.skatingonstilts.com. He hosts the weekly Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, and tweets occasionally as @stewartbaker. He has been a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and a Fellow of the University of Virginia’s Center for National Security Law.

From 2005 to 2009, Mr. Baker was the first Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security. In this position, Mr. Baker oversaw offices responsible for Department-wide policy analysis, international affairs, strategic planning, and relationships with private sector, advisory committees, and law enforcement.

Mr. Baker’s Supreme Court and appellate practice has included successfully advocating a new theory of constitutional federalism and founding the State and Local Legal Center, a public interest institution representing state and local governments before the Supreme Court.

In 2004 and 2005, Mr. Baker served as General Counsel of the WMD Commission investigating intelligence failures prior to the Iraq war. From 1992 to 1994, Mr. Baker was General Counsel of the National Security Agency, where he led NSA and interagency efforts to reform commercial encryption and computer security law and policy. 

Mr. Baker also helped to create the federal Education Department in 1979, and served as Deputy General Counsel of the department until 1981. He has been a law clerk to Hon. John Paul Stevens, U.S. Supreme Court, as well as to Hon. Frank M. Coffin, U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit, and Hon. Shirley M. Hufstedler, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Mr. Baker is a longtime member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the board of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. 

A History of Cybersecurity: A Personal and Professional Journey – Interview With Stewart Baker