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Media · Obituary
Volokh Conspiracy Blogger Stewart Baker Dies at 78
Baker shaped two decades of US national-security legal policy from inside NSA and DHS, and his commentary influenced conservative legal debate on surveillance and cybersecurity.
The facts · bedrock
Stewart Baker, a contributor to the Volokh Conspiracy legal blog hosted at Reason, has died at age 78. Baker graduated from UCLA School of Law in 1976 and clerked for First Circuit Judge Frank Coffin and Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. He served as General Counsel of the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1994 and as Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security from 2005 to 2009. He spent much of his career as a lawyer at Steptoe & Johnson.
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Reason
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How it's being framed
Same facts, different stories. We name the frame instead of pretending neutrality.
Personal remembrance frame
"A friend and longtime collaborator has died suddenly, and what matters now is honoring the man — his warmth, his sharp mind, the dinners and conversations — alongside a quick accounting of an extraordinary life in law and national security."
Career-legacy frame
"Baker's death marks the loss of one of the most consequential national-security lawyers of his generation — NSA general counsel, DHS policy chief, Stevens clerk, Steptoe partner — whose institutional footprint deserves recognition on its own terms."