A Premier Security Clearance, Federal Employment, and National Security Law Firm
Compass Rose Legal Group has a diverse practice area tailored to prospective, current, and former civilian federal employees, defense contractors, members of our active duty and reserve military, journalists, and corporations. The firm’s foundation rests on its proven experience and professionalism while zealously providing legal representation for its clients. Its attorneys bring years of experience handling these matters within the Federal Government and in private practice.
How We Help
- Security Clearance & Polygraph: SF-86 guidance, polygraph issues, Statements of Reasons, personal appearances, hearings, and appeals
- Whistleblower Representation: protected disclosures and retaliation, including Intelligence Community and military whistleblowers
- Federal Employment Law: adverse actions, MSPB appeals, EEO complaints, and national security employment issues
- Criminal & Administrative Investigations: representation of subjects and witnesses, including in Inspector General investigations
- Congressional Investigations: inquiries, interviews, depositions, and testimony
- Independent Corporate & Internal Investigations: attorney-led investigations for organizations
- Suspension & Debarment: contractors and individuals facing exclusion from government work
- FOIA & Privacy Act: requests, appeals, and litigation for government records
- Prepublication Review: books, articles, and speeches by current and former national security personnel
- Government & Media Relations: matters that reach Congress, senior officials, or the press
See the Firm Overview & Practice Areas for more detail.
The CompassRose
Intelligence Community and national security professionals will quickly recognize the compass rose. Symbolically, the radiating spokes of the compass depict the convergence of intelligence from all areas of the world to a central point: the Intelligence Community. The same applies to our firm. In representing our clients, it is they who are the firm’s central focus.
Attorney Spotlight
Andrew P. Bakaj is the Founding & Managing Partner of Compass Rose Legal Group. A former official with the Offices of Inspector General at the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense, Andrew represents former, current, and prospective civilian federal employees, defense contractors, members of our active duty and reserve military, and journalists. Andrew has written numerous articles on security clearance matters, federal investigations, and whistleblower representation. He also provides legal commentary and analysis to various media outlets. Andrew has been lauded by colleagues and professional organizations alike. Notably, he was named “Lawyer of the Year” by his peers at the Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association, and Washingtonian Magazine named him among Washington, DC’s top attorneys. He has also been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® (Qui Tam Law, 2027 edition), a recognition Best Lawyers reserves for the top 5% of practicing attorneys in the United States. Perhaps most unique is that Washingtonian named Andrew among Washington’s “Most Influential People”, identifying him among the “experts and advocates—outside the government—who’ll be shaping the policy debates of the years to come.”
I. Charles McCullough III is a Senior Partner with the firm. In November 2011, the United States Senate confirmed him as the first Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, a position he held until 2017. In that role, he oversaw audits, inspections, investigations, and reviews across the Intelligence Community, reviewed whistleblower complaints from across the IC, and led the joint Inspectors General review of the Boston Marathon bombing, testifying as the lead witness at a 2014 Senate hearing on its findings. Earlier in his nearly three-decade federal career, Chuck served as an FBI Special Agent and Special Assistant United States Attorney, including on the investigation of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing; as Senior Counsel for Law Enforcement and Intelligence at the Department of the Treasury; and as Assistant Inspector General for Investigations at the National Security Agency. At Compass Rose, he represents clients in security clearance and polygraph matters, federal employment disputes, whistleblower matters, and Inspector General, congressional, criminal, and administrative investigations, and conducts independent investigations on behalf of organizations.
Mark S. Zaid is Senior Of Counsel with the firm. For more than three decades, he has represented current and former federal employees, intelligence and military officers, whistleblowers, and members of the media in national security, security clearance, and Freedom of Information Act matters. He is the founder and Executive Director of the James Madison Project and a co-founder of Whistleblower Aid.