By NSJ Staff Writer The November 8th shootings at Ft. Hood are less than a week old, and yet investigators and pundits are already interpreting what they see to be their deep-seated meaning. Officially, after two days of investigation, the FBI and the Army Criminal Investigation Command have come to the tentative conclusion that the […]
Canadian Court Orders Release of Accused Terrorist Sympathizer
By Jonathan Abrams, HLS 2012 NSJ Staff Writer On October 14th, a Canadian Federal Court judge dismissed the Canadian government’s case against a Montreal resident arrested under a controversial deportation program. In 2003, Adil Charkaoui was arrested under a security certificate-an administrative tool by which the Canadian government can detain non-citizens without charge and without […]
NSJ Analysis: Italian Court Issues Extraordinary Rendition Convictions
By NSJ Staff Writer On November 4th, an Italian court convicted in absentia 23 Americans-twenty-two purported CIA agents and one Air Force Officer-for their role in the kidnapping and rendition of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, better known as Abu Omar. Twenty-two Americans were given sentences of five years in prison, and the former CIA Milan […]
Ninth Circuit Rules Unconstitutional Use of Material Witness Statute to Detain Terrorist Suspects
By Jonathan Abrams, HLS 2012 NSJ Staff Writer On September 4th, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit handed down an important ruling on preventive detention, holding that the federal government’s use of the material witness statute, 18 U.S.C. § 3144, to detain suspected terrorists is unconstitutional. The case, al-Kidd v. Ashcroft, […]
NSJ Analysis: Connecting the Rule of Law with Afghanistan’s Security Strategy
By NSJ Staff Writer On October 11, 2009, The New York Times reported that, “Afghanistan’s judiciary is so weak that Afghans increasingly turn to a shadow Taliban court system,” especially in rural areas where people lack access to the judicial process. As the Obama Administration continues to review its Afghanistan strategy to determine whether or […]
HLS Hosted Panel of Cybersecurity Experts Discuss Cyberterrorist Threat
By Mat Trachok, HLS 2012 NSJ Staff Writer What exactly is the nature of the cyberterrorist threat? How realistic is the prospect of nation-to-nation cyberwarfare? How should the government respond to and protect against such threats? What role should the law play in fighting cyberterrorism? On Wednesday, October 28th, the Harvard Law School National Security […]