{{Short description|American lawyer (born 1960)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = John Bellinger | image = John Bellinger LegalAdviser.jpg | office = 21st Legal Adviser of the Department of State | term_start = April 8, 2005 | term_end = January 20, 2009 | president = George W. Bush | predecessor = William Howard Taft IV | successor = Harold Hongju Koh | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1960|3|28}} | birth_place = Neuilly-sur-Seine, France | death_date = | death_place = | party = Republican | education = Princeton University (AB)<br>Harvard University (JD)<br>University of Virginia (MA) }} '''John Bellinger Bellinger III''' (born March 28, 1960)<ref name=birth/> is an American lawyer who served as the Legal Adviser for the U.S. Department of State and the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration. He is now a partner at the Washington, D.C. law firm Arnold & Porter,<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/04/exbush-official-john-bellinger-joins-arnold-porter.html | title = Ex-Bush Official John Bellinger Joins Arnold & Porter | website = The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times | access-date = November 20, 2018}}</ref> and Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.<ref>{{Cite web | title = John B. Bellinger III | url = http://www.cfr.org/experts/international-law-international-law-national-security-and-defense/john-b-bellinger-iii/b6133 | publisher = Council on Foreign Relations | access-date = March 1, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120111123224/https://www.cfr.org/experts/international-law-international-law-national-security-and-defense/john-b-bellinger-iii/b6133 | archive-date = January 11, 2012 | url-status = dead }}</ref>
==Education and earlier career== Born to an American military family in France,<ref name=birth/> Bellinger was educated at St. Albans School in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{Cite news | url = https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/07/what-it-means-to-be-from-brett-kavanaughs-washington/564959/ | title = What It Means to Be From Brett Kavanaugh's Washington | last = Fontana | first = David | date = July 11, 2018 | website = CityLab | via = www.citylab.com | publisher = The Atlantic Monthly Group}}</ref> Thereafter, he received his A.B. ''cum laude'' in 1982 from Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs and his J.D. ''cum laude'' in 1986 from Harvard Law School. He also received an M.A. in Foreign Affairs in 1991 from the University of Virginia, where he was awarded a Woodrow Wilson Foreign Affairs Fellowship.
Bellinger served as counsel for national security matters in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice from 1997 to 2001. He served previously as counsel to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (1996), as general counsel to the Commission on the Roles and Capabilities of the United States Intelligence Community (1995–1996), and as special assistant to Director of Central Intelligence William Webster (1988–1991). From 1991 to 1995, he practiced law with Wilmer Cutler & Pickering in Washington, D.C.
==Bush administration==
=== National Security Council === In February 2001, Bellinger was appointed as senior associate counsel to the president and legal adviser to the National Security Council at the White House, where he served as the principal lawyer for National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and the NSC staff. He was in the White House Situation Room on 9/11 and later was the primary lawyer for the White House in dealing with the 9/11 Commission. He was one of the drafters of the legislation that created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.<ref name=usdosbio>{{Cite web | url = http://www.state.gov/outofdate/bios/48242.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090303070723/http://www.state.gov/outofdate/bios/48242.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = March 3, 2009 | title = Bellinger III, John B. | date = March 3, 2009 }}</ref>
At the White House, Bellinger was considered a moderate<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Mayer | first1 = Jane | author1-link = Jane Mayer | title = The Dark Side | publisher = Doubleday | isbn = 978-0307456298 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/darksideinsidest0000maye_p6s9/page/185 185–188] | year = 2009 | url = https://archive.org/details/darksideinsidest0000maye_p6s9/page/185 }}</ref> and often clashed<ref>{{Cite news | title = In Cheney's Shadow, Counsel Pushes the Conservative Cause | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22665-2004Oct10.html | last = Milbank | first = Dana | newspaper = The Washington Post | date = October 11, 2004 | page = A21}}</ref> with more conservative lawyers in the administration over international law and the administration's detention policies, especially over the treatment of detainees.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Goldsmith | first1 = Jack | author1-link = Jack Goldsmith | title = The Terror Presidency | date = 2007 | publisher = W. W. Norton & Company | isbn = 978-0-393-06550-3 | url = https://archive.org/details/terrorpresidency00gold/page/126 | page = [https://archive.org/details/terrorpresidency00gold/page/126 126] }}</ref> After 9/11, Bellinger,<ref>{{Cite web | website = Frontline | title = Cheney's Law | url = https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/cheney/etc/script.html | date = October 16, 2007}}</ref> and Rice<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Rice | first1 = Condoleezza | author1-link = Condoleezza Rice | title = No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington | date = 2011 | publisher = Crown Archetype | isbn = 978-0-307-58786-2 | page = 104}}</ref> were excluded by other officials in the administration from the preparation of President Bush's order establishing military commissions.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Gellman | first1 = Barton | author1-link = Barton Gellman | title = Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency | date = 2008 | publisher = Penguin Press | isbn = 978-1-59420-186-8|page=166}}</ref>
=== U.S. State Department === Bellinger managed the Senate confirmation process for Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State and co-directed her State Department transition team. He was nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate as the Legal Adviser of the State Department in April 2005. He continued to serve as a member of Rice's "inner circle".<ref>{{Cite news | title = Rice Taps Longtime Colleagues for Inner Circle | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/06/AR2005060601965_2.html | last1 = Kessler | first1 = Glenn | author1-link = Glenn Kessler (journalist) | newspaper = The Washington Post | date = June 7, 2005}}</ref>
As Legal Adviser, Bellinger was the principal adviser on all domestic and international law matters to the Department of State, the Foreign Service, and the diplomatic and consular posts abroad. He was also the principal adviser on legal matters relating to the conduct of foreign relations to other agencies and, through the Secretary of State, to the President and the National Security Council.<ref name=usdosbio/>
Bellinger was part of a group of Bush administration officials who advocated for minimum standards of treatment for detainees, protections for detainees prosecuted by military commissions,<ref>{{Cite news | first1 = Tim | last1 = Golden | author1-link = Tim Golden (journalist) | title = U.S. Is Examining a Plan to Bolster the Rights of Detainees | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/27/politics/27detain.html | newspaper = The New York Times | date = March 27, 2005}}</ref> and the closure of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.<ref>{{Cite news | first1 = Tim | last1 = Golden | author1-link = Tim Golden (journalist) | title = Detainee Memo Created Divide in White House | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/washington/01detain.html | newspaper = The New York Times | date = October 1, 2006}}</ref> He helped persuade the White House to support the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (the McCain Amendment) and to close the secret CIA black sites in 2006.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Mayer | first1 = Jane | author1-link = Jane Mayer | title = The Dark Side | publisher = Doubleday | isbn = 978-0307456298 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/darksideinsidest0000maye_p6s9/page/321 321] | year = 2009 | url = https://archive.org/details/darksideinsidest0000maye_p6s9/page/321 }}</ref> After the Supreme Court held in ''Hamdan v. Rumsfeld'' that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions applied to the U.S. conflict with Al-Qaeda, Bellinger wrote a memo to the Department of Justice stating that the CIA interrogation program was not consistent with the Geneva Conventions.<ref>{{Cite news | title = Interrogation Debate Sharply Divided Bush White House | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/04/us/politics/04detain.html | last1 = Mazzetti | first1 = Mark | author1-link = Mark Mazzetti | last2 = Shane | first2 = Scott | author2-link = Scott Shane | newspaper = The New York Times | date = March 3, 2009}}</ref> At the same time, Bellinger was also called upon to defend the Bush administration's counterterrorism policies to skeptical international audiences, serving as the administration's "chief flak catcher abroad".<ref>{{Cite magazine | title = Making the Case: As the State Department Legal Adviser, John Bellinger '82 Gets the Tough Questions | url = https://www.princeton.edu/~paw/archive_new/PAW06-07/03-1025/features1_lawyer.html | last1 = Kiely | first1 = Kathy | magazine = Princeton Alumni Weekly | publisher = Princeton University | date = October 25, 2006}}</ref> He gave numerous speeches<ref>{{Cite web | title = Speeches of the Legal Adviser | url = http://2001-2009.state.gov/s/l/rls/ | website = U.S. Department of State Archives | via = 2001-2009.state.gov | access-date = October 23, 2019 | date = February 13, 2006}}</ref> and interviews explaining the U.S. legal approach to terrorism.<ref>{{Cite web | last1 = Bellinger III | first1 = John B. | author1-link = John B. Bellinger III | url = https://2009-2017.state.gov/s/l/2006/98861.htm | title = Legal Issues in the War on Terrorism | date = October 31, 2006 | website = U.S. Department of State}}</ref> Rice called Bellinger "indefatigable" in trying to address the concerns of U.S. allies.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Rice | first1 = Condoleezza | author1-link = Condoleezza Rice | title = No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington | date = 2011 | publisher = Crown Archetype | isbn = 978-0-307-58786-2 | page = 303}}</ref>
In 2006, Bellinger headed the U.S. delegation that negotiated the Third Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions that allowed the humanitarian aid societies of Israel and the Palestinian territories to join the International Red Cross/Red Crescent Federation.<ref>{{Cite news | title = For Israeli Aid Group, Long Road to Inclusion | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/30/AR2006083002938_2.html | last1 = Goldfarb | first1 = Zachary A. | newspaper = The Washington Post | date = August 31, 2006}}</ref>
Bellinger has been credited with leading the Bush administration's shift in approach towards the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the administration's second term after President Bush agreed to the UN referral of the genocide in Darfur to the ICC in March 2005.<ref>{{Cite web | website = American Non-Governmental Organizations Coalition for the International Criminal Court | title = Bush Approach to the ICC | url = http://www.amicc.org/usicc/bush | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131103175327/http://www.amicc.org/usicc/bush | archive-date = November 3, 2013 | url-status = dead}}</ref> In a series of speeches,<ref>{{Cite news | title = US Warms to Hague Tribunal | url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB115024503087679549 | last1 = Bravin | first1 = Jess | author1-link = Jess Bravin | newspaper = The Wall Street Journal | date = June 14, 2006}}</ref> Bellinger said the United States was prepared to assist the Court's investigation in Sudan even if it did not intend to join the Rome Statute.<ref>{{Cite news | title = US Official Floats Possibility of Assistance to Hague Court | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/11/AR2007061102347.html | last1 = Boustany | first1 = Nora | newspaper = The Washington Post | date = June 12, 2007}}</ref> He has urged Congress to amend the American Servicemembers Protection Act to allow the United States to provide more support to the Court in certain war crimes investigations.<ref>{{Cite news | last1 = Bellinger III | first1 = John B. | author1-link = John B. Bellinger III | title = Congress should review policies toward war-crimes court | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/congress-should-review-policies-toward-war-crimes-court/2012/06/21/gJQAN9RgtV_print.html | newspaper = The Washington Post | date = June 22, 2012}}</ref>
In 2008, Bellinger represented the United States before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a case filed by Mexico after the Supreme Court in ''Medellin v Texas'' invalidated President Bush's February 2005 order directing courts in Texas and other states to comply with the ICJ's 2004 order in ''Case Concerning Avena and Other Mexican Nationals'' that the United States review the convictions and death sentences of a group of Mexican nationals who had not been notified of their right to consular access under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. He later testified before Congress in support of legislation that would allow federal courts to review the death sentences of foreign nationals who had not been notified of their rights to consular access.<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://www.cfr.org/international-law/fulfilling-treaty-obligations-protecting-americans-abroad/p25562 | title = Fulfilling Treaty Obligations and Protecting Americans Abroad | website = Council on Foreign Relations | access-date = November 20, 2018}}</ref>
During his term as Legal Adviser Bellinger initiated a bi-annual dialogue on international law between the State Department Legal Adviser and his/her EU foreign ministry counterparts which continued after his tenure.<ref>Introduction by James Kingston, Legal Advisor Dept. of Foreign Affairs Ireland to video:Harold Koh IIEA youtube c.3.30 mins in.</ref>
Bellinger's term as Legal Adviser ended on January 20, 2009.<ref>{{Cite web | url = https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/bellinger-john-b | title = John B. Bellinger 3rd (1960–) | website = history.state.gov | access-date = November 20, 2018}}</ref> The then-Principal Deputy Legal Adviser, Joan Donoghue, served in an acting capacity until the Obama administration's nominee, Harold Koh, was confirmed as Legal Adviser by the U.S. Senate in March 2009.
==Post-government service==
In 2009, after leaving the State Department, Bellinger joined the Washington, DC law firm of Arnold & Porter where he is a partner in the firm's public international law and national security law practices.
He is also an Adjunct Senior Fellow in International and National Security Law at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he directed a program on international justice.<ref>{{Cite web | website = Council on Foreign Relations | title = John B. Bellinger III | url = http://www.cfr.org/experts/international-law-international-law-national-security-and-defense/john-b-bellinger-iii/b6133 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120111123224/https://www.cfr.org/experts/international-law-international-law-national-security-and-defense/john-b-bellinger-iii/b6133 | archive-date = January 11, 2012 | url-status = dead}}</ref> He speaks and writes regularly on international law issues. He is a senior contributor to ''Lawfare'', a national security law blog.<ref>{{Cite web | url = https://www.lawfaremedia.org/author/john/ | title = Posts by John Bellinger | website = Lawfare Blog | access-date = May 15, 2013 |url-status=live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130430051554/http://www.lawfareblog.com/author/john/ | archive-date = April 30, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url = https://www.lawfaremedia.org/contributors/jbellinger | title = John Bellinger | website = Lawfare Blog | access-date = October 23, 2019}}</ref>
In 2010, Bellinger publicly defended Obama administration officials who had been criticized for previously representing detainees at Guantanamo Bay.<ref>{{Cite magazine | title = Another Bush Official Defends Smeared DoJ Lawyers | url = http://prospect.org/article/another-bush-official-defends-smeared-doj-lawyers | last1 = Serwer | first1 = Adam | author1-link = Adam Serwer | magazine = The American Prospect | date = March 5, 2010}}</ref>
Bellinger was critical of the Obama administration's heavy reliance on drone strikes to kill terrorists.<ref>{{Cite news | last1 = Bellinger III | first1 = John B. | author1-link = John B. Bellinger III | title = Will Drone Strikes Become Obama's Guantanamo | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/will-drone-strikes-become-obamas-guantanamo/2011/09/30/gIQA0ReIGL_story.html | newspaper = The Washington Post | date = October 2, 2011}}</ref> In testimony before Congress in 2012, he urged the Obama administration to do more to explain the legality of targeted killings and to make its drone program more transparent.<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://www.cfr.org/counterterrorism/drones-war-terror-can-us-target-alleged-american-terrorists-overseas/p30080 | title = Drones and the War on Terror: When Can the U.S. Target Alleged American Terrorists Overseas? | last1 = Bellinger III | first1 = John B | author1-link = John B. Bellinger III | website = Council on Foreign Relations | access-date = November 20, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130403234617/http://www.cfr.org/counterterrorism/drones-war-terror-can-us-target-alleged-american-terrorists-overseas/p30080 | archive-date = April 3, 2013 | url-status = dead}}</ref>
In 2013, Bellinger was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court by a group of former Republican officials in support of same-sex marriage in ''Hollingsworth v. Perry''.<ref>{{Cite news | url = https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/28/the-pro-freedom-republicans-are-coming-131-sign-gay-marriage-brief | title = The Pro-Freedom Republicans Are Coming: 131 Sign Gay Marriage Brief | last1 = Avlon | first1 = John | author1-link = John Avlon | date = February 28, 2013 | newspaper = The Daily Beast}}</ref>
In 2016 Bellinger drafted the "50 G.O.P. Officials Warn Donald Trump Would Put Nation's Security 'at Risk'" letter.<ref>{{Cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/09/us/politics/national-security-gop-donald-trump.html | title = 50 G.O.P. Officials Warn Donald Trump Would Put Nation's Security 'at Risk' | last1 = Sanger | first1 = David E. | author1-link = David E. Sanger | date = August 8, 2016 | last2 = Haberman | first2 = Maggie | author2-link = Maggie Haberman | newspaper = The New York Times | issn = 0362-4331|access-date=August 9, 2016}}</ref>
In November 2018, Bellinger joined a group formed by George Conway, "Checks and Balances," composed of more than a dozen members of the conservative-libertarian Federalist Society, which had been instrumental in selecting candidates for the Trump administration to appoint to federal courts. ''The New York Times'' reported the group is "urging their fellow conservatives to speak up about what they say are the Trump administration’s betrayals of bedrock legal norms," with Bellinger stating "Conservative lawyers are not doing enough to protect constitutional principles that are being undermined by the statements and actions of this president."<ref>{{Cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/us/politics/conservative-lawyers-trump.html | title = Conservative Lawyers Say Trump Has Undermined the Rule of Law | access-date = November 20, 2018 | newspaper = The New York Times | date = November 14, 2018 | last1 = Liptak | first1 = Adam | author1-link = Adam Liptak}}</ref>
In August 2020, Bellinger was one of 70 former senior security officials who took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal, saying they would vote for Joe Biden as president.<ref>{{cite web |title=Why 70 former US security officials support Biden, John Bellinger 111 |url=https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/08/27/why_70_former_us_security_officials_support_biden.html |website=www.realclearpolitics.com |accessdate=20 September 2020}}</ref>
In 2020, Bellinger, along with over 130 other former Republican national security officials, signed a statement that asserted that President Trump was unfit to serve another term, and "To that end, we are firmly convinced that it is in the best interest of our nation that Vice President Joe Biden be elected as the next President of the United States, and we will vote for him."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.defendingdemocracytogether.org/national-security/ |title=Former Republican National Security Officials for Biden |date=20 August 2020 |website=Defending Democracy Together |access-date=26 August 2021}}</ref>
Bellinger is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Law Institute, the American Council on Germany, and the British-American Project. He is also member of the Secretary State's Advisory Committee on International Law. In 2012, he was appointed to the Defense Legal Policy Board.<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://www.lawfareblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Military-Justice-in-Combat-Zones.pdf | title = Military Justice in Combat Zones | last1 = Panetta | first1 = Leon | author1-link = Leon Panetta | website = Lawfare Blog | publisher = U.S. Department of Defense | access-date = May 21, 2013 |url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130627010142/http://www.lawfareblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Military-Justice-in-Combat-Zones.pdf | archive-date = June 27, 2013}}</ref> In October 2012, the American Law Institute named him as a Counselor for the Restatement Fourth of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States.<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://www.ali.org/_news/reporter/fall2012/03-new-restatement.html | title = Council Appoints Counselors and Reporters for New Restatement Fourth on Foreign Relations Law | website = The ALI Reporter | publisher = American Law Institute | date = Fall 2012 | access-date = May 15, 2013 |url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140325210323/http://www.ali.org/_news/reporter/fall2012/03-new-restatement.html | archive-date = March 25, 2014}}</ref>
Bellinger is a former Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of his alma mater, St. Albans School. He is a Trustee of the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation and sits on the America Abroad Media advisory board.<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://americaabroadmedia.org/user/161/John_B._Bellinger_III | title = Advisory Board – John B. Bellinger III | website = America Abroad Media | access-date = October 23, 2019 |url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140716074351/http://americaabroadmedia.org/user/161/John_B._Bellinger_III | archive-date = July 16, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url = http://www.americaabroadmedia.org/content/john-bellinger-iii | title = John Bellinger III | website = America Abroad Media | access-date = October 23, 2019}}</ref>
== Personal life == Bellinger was born into the fourth generation of a United States Army family.<ref name=birth>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WfkYAQAAMAAJ&q=%22John+Bellinger+Bellinger+III%22 |title=Fourth Generation |date=1960 |volume=97 |page=1144 |magazine=Army, Navy, Air Force Journal |access-date=September 20, 2022}}</ref> His great-grandfather was an 1884 West Point graduate who retired from military service as a brigadier general. His grandfather and father were also West Point graduates who both retired as colonels.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ancexplorer.army.mil/publicwmv/#/search-all/results/1/CglCZWxsaW5nZXISBEpvaG4aAUI-/ |title=Bellinger, John B |website=Army Cemeteries Explorer |publisher=U.S. Army |access-date=September 20, 2022}}</ref><!-- He is not Bellinger IV because the middle name Bellinger only began in the second generation -->
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/48242.htm State Department Biography] (2005). Retrieved January 6, 2006. * Office of the Press Secretary, The White House (March 2, 2001). [https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/03/20010302-13.html Statement by the Press Secretary]. Press Release. * {{Cite web | title = John B. Bellinger III | url = http://www.arnoldporter.com/professionals.cfm?action=view&id=5300 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130407175318/http://www.arnoldporter.com/professionals.cfm?action=view&id=5300 |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 7, 2013 | publisher = Arnold & Porter | access-date = March 1, 2013}} * {{C-SPAN|91743}} :''This article incorporates public domain text from a Department of State biography and a White House press release.''
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=William Howard Taft IV}} {{s-ttl|title=Legal Adviser of the Department of State|years=2005–2009}} {{s-aft|after=Joan Donoghue<br>Acting}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellinger, John B. Iii}} Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:Arnold & Porter people Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:Lawyers who have represented the United States government Category:Lawyers from Arlington County, Virginia Category:Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni Category:St. Albans School (Washington, D.C.) alumni Category:The Stimson Center Category:United States Department of State officials Category:United States Senate lawyers Category:University of Virginia alumni Category:Virginia Republicans Category:Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr people Category:George W. Bush administration personnel