Former Deputy Secretary of Defense; former Chief Legal Advisor, Department of State
In 2001, William Taft was appointed Legal Adviser to the Department of State, a post he held until 2005. Previously, Mr. Taft was the U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO from 1989-1992, Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1984-1989, Acting Secretary of Defense from January to March, 1989, and General Counsel for the Department of Defense from 1981-1984. Taft is of counsel in the Washington D.C. office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, and is currently serving as a visiting professor at Stanford University Law School.