Mr. Michael German – ACLU

Michael German is the policy counsel for national security and privacy for the American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office. In this capacity German develops policy positions and proactive strategies on pending legislation and executive branch actions concerning domestic surveillance, data mining, freedom to travel, medical and financial privacy, national ID cards, whistleblower protection, military commissions, and law enforcement conduct.

A sixteen-year veteran of federal law enforcement, 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. German’s final assignment with the FBI was 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.

German left the FBI in 2004 to make Congress and the public aware of continuing deficiencies in FBI counterterrorism operations. He began lecturing on counterterrorism and intelligence matters and joined the ACLU Washington Legislative Office staff in 2006. His commentary has appeared in the National Law Journal, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle and Miami Herald. German is the author of scholarly articles including “Squaring the Error,” published by the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College and “Trying Enemy Combatants in Civilian Courts,” published in the George Washington Law Review. His first book, Thinking Like a Terrorist: Insights of a Former FBI Undercover Agent, was published in 2007.

German currently serves as an adjunct professor for Law Enforcement and Terrorism at the National Defense University and is a Senior Fellow with GlobalSecurity.org. German graduated from the Northwestern University Law School, and graduated cum laude from Wake Forest University with a B.A. in Philosophy.