Anthony Lapham

Anthony "Tony" Abbott Lapham was the 3rd General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), acting as the CIA's chief legal officer during the chaotic period of the Church Committee. Lapham was also known as an environmentalist, and was chairman of American Rivers, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving rivers, and died while on a trout fishing trip on the Cane River. He served on the board of the Krebser Fund for Rappahannock County Conservation and was a trustee of Ocean Conservancy, American Farmland Trust, National Audubon Society, Environmental Defense Fund and the Audubon Naturalist Society of the Central Atlantic States.

In 1958, Lapham earned his bachelors degree from Yale University. Lapham himself was a member of the Manuscript Society, Yale's senior society dedicated to Arts and letters.

Later in 1958, Lapham moved to Washington, D.C., where he attended night school at Georgetown University Law Center, holding down a day job in Capitol Hill.

In 1976, Lapham was the first General Counsel to be brought in from "outside" the CIA. Lapham was the lawyer who was ultimately responsible for drafting the CIA's public apology for its part in the MKUltra program. Lapham also presided over the CIA's legal response to many other public revelations during the Church Committee. Michael Hayden said that this was "a period of momentous change and challenges for the agency."

In 1980, Lapham returned to Shea and Gardner, which had been absorbed by the Boston law firm, Goodwin Procter. While in private practice, Lapham represented Adolfo Calero, the leader of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, and later represented the chief paymaster for Charles Taylor. Most notably, Lapham also represented his former boss, Stansfield Turner, when Turner himself sued the CIA.

Lapham was also on the Board of Trustees for WETA.