Washington Lawyer - September/October 2024 - 5

YOUR VOICE
LONGER RETENTION OF POLICE VIDEO
I just received the July/August 2024 edition of
Washington Lawyer and read with interest the
letter from Thomas DiBiase of the U.S. Capitol
Police (USCP). He reassured readers that USCP
surveillance videotape " [f]ootage is preserved
for 30 days unless it is needed for a criminal
matter or unless a request is made to preserve
the footage within 30 days of an event. "
He may wish to double-check the current state
of federal law on the subject. Some federal
courts may consider such destruction after 30
days to be improper, and may require federal
agencies like the U.S. Capitol Police to preserve
such tapes beyond 30 days because they may
be relevant to pending, reasonably anticipated,
contemplated, or foreseeable cases or investigations.
The SEC Enforcement Manual and 18
U.S. Code Section 1519 might be good places
to start.
Michael J. Barrett
Retired Assistant General Counsel
Central Intelligence Agency
Ashburn, Virginia
ATTORNEYS' JOB IS TO THINK
I appreciated Lloyd Liu's message in " Fostering
Productive Dissent in Teams " (July/August 2024
issue). I have worked as an attorney in two U.S.
states and also in Afghanistan as part of a rule
of law program funded by the U.S. government.
In none of these jobs did I hear a supervising
attorney encourage dissent, let alone an
opinion that was different from theirs.
The most egregious was in Afghanistan. I remember
arriving in Kabul in July 2011. In the
ensuing days I was taken to the office of our supervising
attorney (an American). The first sentence
out of his mouth, after he looked me
over, was a loud, " You are here to do! I repeat:
to do! You are not here to think! "
I was appalled. I thought to myself: I am here
in a dangerous, complex, war-torn country to
help Afghan attorneys navigate their justice
system, and to promote equality and transparency
as much as possible. We are not allowed
to - think? In which training class, CLE, or law
school were attorneys told not to think? NeedContinuing
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less to say, my respect for that supervising
attorney did not exist. I saw that feeling
echoed by fellow American and Afghan
coworkers.
And since that supervising attorney did not
want me to think, I did a boatload of thinking.
I thought about what kind of supervisor
I wished to be one day.
Jade Wu
Attorney and Author
Naples, Florida
Washington Lawyer welcomes your letters. Submissions
should be directed to Washington
Lawyer, District of Columbia Bar, 901 4th Street
NW, Washington, DC 20001. Submissions are
also accepted by email at editorial@dcbar.org.
Letters may be edited for clarity and space.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024 * WASHINGTON LAWYER 5
Washington Lawyer - September/October 2024

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