Yale Law Dean Going to Washington, Will Advise State Department

A national security law expert who is a well-known critic of the Bush administration's detention policies concerning suspected terrorists has been tapped by President Barack Obama to provide legal advice to the U.S. Department of State.

Harold Hongju Koh, who currently is dean of Yale Law School, will be nominated by the Obama administration as State Department legal advisor, reports the Caucus blog of the New York Times.

Koh has previously been mentioned as a possible nominee for any vacancy that may soon arise on the U.S. Supreme Court.

He apparently hasn't pulled any punches concerning his views on the previous administration's legal advice concerning the issues he is now himself expected to weigh in on: In June 2004, for instance, he described the U.S. Department of Justice memoranda on torture as “embarrassing” and “abominable,” the newspaper notes.