By NSJ Staff Writer Today’s Wall Street Journal features an op-ed from former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, in which he argues that alleged terrorist detainees should not be tried in US civilian courts. In particular, Mukasey criticizes Attorney General Holder’s August decision to try Ahmed Ghailani in New York rather than Guantanamo for the 1998 […]
U.S. Military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) Policy Criticized at Harvard Law School Panel
By Anthony Palermo and Lindsay Schare “DADT is government-sanctioned discrimination. There are thousands of closeted gay women and men serving in our armed forces today, and we disrespect their service by clinging on to this insulting law,” said Captain Joe Lopez, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and a current […]
PATRIOT Act Reauthorization Passes Senate Judiciary Committee
On Thursday, a divided Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill to renew three key provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act that were set to expire at year’s end. By a tally of 11-8, the SJC voted to extend until 2013 the authorities of the federal government to obtain individual business and financial records that may […]
Wittes on Obama’s Guantanamo Detention Policy
Benjamin Wittes, member of the Harvard National Security Journal Advisory Board, commented today on the Obama Administration’s decision not to seek legislation from Congress to govern the continued detention of Guantanamo detainees. For Mr. Wittes’ views, please see his Washington Post editorial or listen to his remarks on NPR’s All Things Considered.
Limiting the State Secrets Privilege
The Obama Administration announced on Wednesday its decision to heighten the standards used by Justice Department officials when they seek to invoke the state secrets privilege. The new policy comes in response to the widely held belief that Bush Administration lawyers had abused the privilege in a number of terrorism-related suits. Military and intelligence agency […]