Lisa Graves

Lisa Graves is the Executive Director of the watchdog group Center for Media and Democracy, the publisher of PRWatch, SourceWatch, BanksterUSA, the Food Rights Network, and The SPIN. She joined the Center in July 2009, after she was chosen as the successor of its founder John Stauber, who stepped aside to pursue special projects.

She previously served as a senior advisor in all three branches of the federal government, as a leading strategist on civil liberties advocacy, and as an adjunct law professor at one of the top law schools in the country, after joining the U.S. Department of Justice through the Attorney General's Honor Program following a clerkship with a federal judge.

Her former leadership posts include:


 * Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy/Policy Development at the U.S. Department of Justice (serving under both Attorneys General Janet Reno and John Ashcroft)
 * Deputy Chief of the Article III Judges Division of the U.S. Courts (including oversight of the Financial Disclosure Office)
 * Chief Counsel for Nominations for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee (for Chairman and then Ranking Member Senator Patrick Leahy)
 * Senior Legislative Strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union (on national security and surveillance policies)
 * Deputy Director of the Center for National Security Studies

Graves has testified as an expert witness on national security issues before both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. She has also appeared as an expert on Democracy Now!, Grit TV, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNBC, BBC, C-SPAN, and other news programs and on numerous radio shows, including National Public Radio, Air America, and Pacifica Radio. Her analysis has been quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, The Associated Press, Reuters, USA Today, The Nation, Vanity Fair, Congressional Quarterly, Roll Call, National Journal, Legal Times, Newsday, Wired, and Mother Jones, among others, as well as online in The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, and other blogs.

Resources and articles

 * Andrew Noyes, Media Watchdog Gets New Leader, National Journal online, Tuesday, July 14, 2009.

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Lisa's Talk page