Jason Foster conducted oversight and investigations as counsel to four congressional committees in the U.S. House and Senate before becoming a Senior Fellow at Good Government Now. For 14 of his 22 years on Capitol Hill, he served as counsel to Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), working closely with whistleblowers and offices of inspectors general to help Congress oversee the Executive Branch. He helped Grassley create the Senate’s bipartisan Whistleblower Protection Caucus and pass the FBI Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2016. He assisted Grassley in strengthening inspector general independence and access to agency records through the Inspector General Empowerment Act of 2016.
Mr Foster also helped negotiate policy concessions for greater voluntary access to Executive Branch information for all Members of Congress following a controversial Justice Department legal opinion threatening to limit access to only committee chairs. He has advised congressional committees in hundreds of disputes with the Executive Branch over access to documents and witnesses in a broad array of contexts over the years.
As Chief Investigative Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Foster led its oversight and investigations team in reviewing allegations of waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement, and misconduct at the Justice Department and federal law enforcement agencies. He also conducted oversight of the government’s response to the financial crisis for the Senate Finance Committee, helped negotiate legislation implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and investigated controversial Presidential pardons for the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee.
He is an Arkansas native and a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center.