Thomas H. Lee, the Leitner Family Professor of International Law at Fordham Law School, has been appointed Special Counsel to the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Defense. Lee will take a one-year leave from Fordham, starting May 20, 2019, to undertake his work at the Pentagon.
While assigned to the Office of the General Counsel, Lee will advise on matters involving legal policy directly in support of the international law and operations missions of the Department of Defense.
“This opportunity was not an easy decision to make, but there are a number of very significant issues that the Department is working on that I would like to help in resolving,” said Lee. “The call of duty was too compelling to ignore, and I look forward to working with the General Counsel, his outstanding staff and the dedicated civilian and military members of the Defense Department.”
Professor Lee teaches and writes in international law, U.S. and comparative constitutional law, international arbitration, legal history, and U.S. federal courts and jurisdiction. His current research interests include the law of war, cyberlaw, and protecting data privacy. He has been a member of the Fordham law faculty since 2002. From 1991 to 1995, he was a U.S. naval cryptology officer deployed at sea in the Western Pacific and ashore in Korea and Japan and with the National Security Agency.