WILLIAM H. WEBSTER

Forensics—Guardian or Threat to Our Civil Liberties

Judge William H. Webster, Homeland Security Advisory Council vice chair, has had a long and storied career since receiving his bachelor of arts degree from Amherst College. Webster is currently a consulting partner in Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP's Washington office.

Prior to joining Milbank, Webster served as director of central intelligence (May 1987-September 1991), where he headed all the foreign intelligence agencies of United States and directed the Central Intelligence Agency. He has also served as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1978-1987), judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (1973-1978), and judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri (1970-1973). During his time on the bench, Judge Webster was chairman of the Judiciary Conference Advisory Committee on the Criminal Rules and was a member of the Ad Hoc Committee of Court Administration.

Webster has also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, and he has been a member of the Missouri Board of Law Examiners. He received his juris doctor from Washington University Law School. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Council of the American Law Institute, Order of the Coif, and is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

He has received numerous honorary degrees and awards, including the Freedoms Foundation National Service Medal (1985), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1991), and the National Security Medal (1991). He is a past chairman of the American Bar Association Business Law Section and past president of the Institute of Judicial Administration. He is a director of the American Arbitration Association and the CPR Center for Dispute Resolution. He is a trustee of Washington University in St. Louis.

Judge Webster is the recipient of the 2001 Justice Award of the American Judicature Society and the 2002 ABA Medal, its highest honor. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and has also received NASA's Distinguished Public Service Medal, which notes "For your exceptional, dedicated, and untiring public service in support of the families of the crew of Space Shuttle Columbia STS-107."

Judge Webster's Festival of Ideas presentation is part of the West Virginia Law Review's annual spring symposium entitled "Brave New World-Developing the Legal Frontier in Light of Forensic and Biometric Advances." On March 27 and 28, 2006, the West Virginia University College of Law, Forensic and Investigative Sciences Program, and Biometric Systems will explore the connections between science and law in these emerging disciplines. The two-day event will take place at the College of Law and will include the Donley Lecture given by Professor Steven Goldberg of the Georgetown University Law Center.