JAMES COMEY

The second Forum of our “Ethics Still Matter” spring season features former FBI Director and #1 New York Times Best-Selling Author James Comey. This Forum returns us to where we began in fall 1980 with Special Watergate Prosecutor Archibald Cox who also spoke on “Ethics and Government.”

Do ethics matter in government? Is truth just a matter of perspective? What is asked of and from us if our democracy and once-trusted institutions are to endure?

James Comey led the FBI from 2013 to 2017, appointed by President Barack Obama. At the FBI, he tried to change its approach to leadership, diversity, and cyber threats. Like Archibald Cox, Comey’s tenure came to an abrupt end under a controversial president. Prior to FBI service, Comey was a federal prosecutor in New York and Virginia and served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and U.S. deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush.

Comey’s 2018 and 2021 books on ethics and leadership were both New York Times bestsellers. He holds a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School.