About the IAPP

Alex Joel is a Senior Project Director and Resident Adjunct Professor at the Washington College of Law. He is conducting research, developing programming, and teaching courses focused on the intersections between the law, national security, technology, and privacy. He leads the Privacy Across Borders initiative for the school’s Tech, Law and Security Program.

Previously, Mr. Joel was a senior officer with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), where he led the Office of Civil Liberties, Privacy and Transparency. From 2005 to 2019, Mr. Joel served as the ODNI’s Civil Liberties Protection Officer, a position established by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Protection Act of 2004. From 2015-2019, he also served as the ODNI’s Chief Transparency Officer, appointed to the position by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Before joining ODNI, Mr. Joel was an attorney at the Central Intelligence Agency's Office of General Counsel, which he joined in 2002. Before that, he worked as the privacy, technology, and e-commerce attorney for Marriott International, Inc., and as a technology attorney at the law firm of Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge in Washington, D.C. (now Pillsbury Winthrop). Mr. Joel began his legal career as an officer in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps.

Mr. Joel is a former member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Privacy Professionals.