Harvey Rishikof is a Visiting Professor of Law at Temple University Beasley School of Law. He is involved in a number of legal-policy projects sponsored by the MITRE FFRDC, the MacArthur Foundation, the Center for Strategic International Studies, the Hewlett Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences.
Professor Rishikof is the former Director of Military Commissions and Convening Authority at DoD, and the co-chair of the ABA National Task Force on Cybersecurity and the Law. Most recently he was senior counsel at Crowell & Moring, dean of faculty at the National War College, and held a joint appointment at Drexel University in the law school and the iSchool, College of Information Science and Technology.
Professor Rishikof’s last government position was senior policy advisor to the director of national counterintelligence at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Before joining the government he was at the National Defense University, National War College in Washington, D.C., where he served as professor of law and national security studies, and also chaired the department of national security strategy. He specializes in national security law, international law, media, civil liberties, civilian/military relations, governmental process, and the U.S. Constitution.
Professor Rishikof’s career includes experiences in the private sector, academia, and public service. He is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Law Institute. He is the chair of the advisory committee for the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security; he also serves on the Board of Visitors for the National Intelligence University, as an advisor to the Harvard Journal on National Security, on the U.S. Board of Wilton Park, as a Visiting Distinguished Research fellow of the Center for Strategic Research at INSS at NDU, and as outside director for Chicago, Bridge and Iron (CBI).
As dean of the Roger Williams University School of Law, Bristol, Rhode Island (1999-2001), Professor Rishikof introduced courses in national security law and the Constitution, in cooperation with the Naval War College. He was also legal counsel to the deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As Administrative Assistant to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1994-96), Professor Rishikof, a former federal court of appeals law clerk in the Third Circuit for the Honorable Leonard I. Garth, served as chief of staff for the Chief Justice and was involved in general policy issues concerning the federal court system. In this capacity, he acted as liaison to the Executive Branch, Congress, the Federal Judicial Center, and the Administrative Office of the United States Supreme Court. For a number of years he was a Tutor in Social Studies and the Government Department at Harvard University. He was in private practice in Boston with Hale and Dorr.
Professor Rishikof has authored many publications and monographs and co-edited a book, Patriots Debate (2012). His most recent book publication is The National Security Enterprise: Navigating the Labyrinth (2009, 2nd ed 2017).