John A. Rizzo

John A. Rizzo
John A. Rizzo
Acting General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency
	In office; 2001–2002
Preceded by	Michael J. O'Neil
Succeeded by	Scott W. Muller
Deputy General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency
	In office; 2002–2004
Serving under	Scott W. Muller
Acting General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency
	In office; 2004–2009
Preceded by	Scott W. Muller
Succeeded by	Stephen W. Preston
Personal details
Born	John Anthony Rizzo; October 6, 1947; Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	August 6, 2021 (aged 73)
Spouses	; Priscilla Walton Layton (divorced) ; Sharon Knight (m. 1993; died 2021)
Alma mater	Brown University (BA); George Washington University (JD)

John Anthony Rizzo (October 6, 1947 – August 6, 2021)^[1] was an American attorney who worked as a lawyer in the Central Intelligence Agency for 34 years. He was the deputy counsel or acting general counsel of the CIA for the first nine years of the War on Terror, during which the CIA held dozens of detainees in black site prisons around the globe.^[2]

During the George W. Bush administration, the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice approved various forms of torture (referred to as "enhanced interrogation techniques") in memos to Rizzo for use by CIA interrogators at the black sites.^[3] Rizzo signed off on all CIA-directed drone strikes from September 2001 until October 2009.^[4]

He was a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution and Senior Counsel at the Steptoe & Johnson law firm.^[5]

^ Rizzo, John (2014). Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA. New York: Scribner. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-4516-7393-7.
^ Mazzetti, Mark (June 20, 2007). "Nominee for C.I.A. Counsel Offers Few Details in His Senate Confirmation Hearing". The New York Times. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
^ Talev, Margaret; Taylor, Marisa (April 16, 2009). "Bush-era interrogations: From waterboarding to forced nudity". McClatchy. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
^ Cite error: The named reference TopSecretAmerica was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Rizzo, John A. (March 30, 2012). "The CIA-Congress War". Defining Ideas. Archived from the original on April 1, 2012.

[1] Rizzo, John (2014). Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA. New York: Scribner. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-4516-7393-7.

[nyt20June2007-2] Mazzetti, Mark (June 20, 2007). "Nominee for C.I.A. Counsel Offers Few Details in His Senate Confirmation Hearing". The New York Times. Retrieved October 6, 2011.

[mcclatchy16April2009-3] Talev, Margaret; Taylor, Marisa (April 16, 2009). "Bush-era interrogations: From waterboarding to forced nudity". McClatchy. Retrieved October 6, 2011.

[TopSecretAmerica-4] Cite error: The named reference TopSecretAmerica was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[cia-congresswar-5] Rizzo, John A. (March 30, 2012). "The CIA-Congress War". Defining Ideas. Archived from the original on April 1, 2012.

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John A. Rizzo


Acting General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency
In office 2001–2002
Preceded by	Michael J. O'Neil
Succeeded by	Scott W. Muller
Deputy General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency
In office 2002–2004
Serving under	Scott W. Muller
Acting General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency
In office 2004–2009
Preceded by	Scott W. Muller
Succeeded by	Stephen W. Preston

Personal details
Born	John Anthony Rizzo (1947-10-06)October 6, 1947 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	August 6, 2021(2021-08-06) (aged 73)
Spouses	Priscilla Walton Layton (divorced) Sharon Knight (m. 1993; died 2021)
Alma mater	Brown University (BA) George Washington University (JD)