A graduate of The University of Tulsa College of Law, Jacqueline “Jackie” Acker (J.D. ’13) recently returned to campus to deliver a lecture titled “Privacy and Civil Liberties at the CIA.” Acker is perfectly positioned to illuminate this topic given her role as the CIA’s deputy privacy and civil liberties officer.
Prior to enrolling at TU Law, Acker earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in theatre at the University of Texas at Austin. “I was – and am – passionate about the arts and the importance of storytelling in getting a point across to an audience,” said Acker. “I loved the creative aspect of coming up with a design and then working with a team to figure out how to implement it.”
According to Acker, those skills “translated incredibly well” to law school and post-graduation work: “Creative thinking, working with stakeholders, and problem-solving are invaluable in any career, but especially in policy.”
Today, she applies those skills leading the day-to-day efforts of the CIA’s traditional privacy program, which focuses on building privacy protections into the agency’s systems and complying with the Privacy Act of 1974. She also has a central role ensuring that complaints from the public are addressed; advising on policy development and implementation; training the CIA’s workforce; maintaining transparency with the public about the CIA’s mission, authorities, and oversight; working with the agency’s Executive Branch Oversight; and leading the Office of Privacy and Civil Liberties’ artificial intelligence ethics portfolio.
For Acker, there is a solid throughline connecting her CIA work with what she learned during law school. In particular, she underscores the formative influence of her health law courses. “A lot of what I learned centered on patients’ dignity and right to protect decisions and their information. The passion I developed for privacy and dignity in the health care setting built a foundation I pull from when considering privacy and civil liberties in the government and when considering AI impacts on individuals,” she said.
In addition to her CIA role, Acker regularly teaches the master of legal studies course Information Privacy and Data Security at American University’s Washington College of Law. “After having had such a great education at TU Law, it’s so rewarding to be able to share my knowledge with future legal professionals,” Acker commented.
For anyone thinking about what to do after law school, Acker recommends giving government work a try. “There’s really no better experience,” she said. “You’ll get to work on significant issues from the first day and have a genuine impact. While the private sector is always an option later, a lot of attorneys – myself included – happily remain in the government because of the deeply satisfying public service mission. Not to mention you get to work on some incredibly cool and high-profile topics!”