American Security Project Hosts Forum on Legal Issues Confronting the New Administration in the “War on Terror”
CONTACT:
Selena Shilad
(202) 550-2547
Washington, DC – Today the American Security Project hosted a webinar and conference call with reporters and guests to discuss a series of new papers on legal issues confronting the incoming Administration in the “war on terror.” Participating in the call were ASP Senior Fellow Dr. Bernard I. Finel, Dr. Anthony Clark Arend, Professor of Government and Foreign Service at Georgetown University and Director of the Master of Science in Foreign Service in the Walsh School of Foreign Service, and Damon A. Terrill, former Attorney-Adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State.
The participants specifically discussed challenges facing the Obama Administration on issues including detainees, interrogation, surveillance, ungoverned spaces, and military strikes on suspected terrorists abroad, as well as the need for a new sustainable, international legal framework. The forum and white papers are part of an part of an ongoing series of reports and perspectives being issued by the American Security Project on important issues confronting the incoming Administration.
Specific findings contained in the papers were as follows:
· In order to make Americans safer and the United States stronger, the next President and Congress must act immediately to restore the rule of law to its rightful place at the center of U.S. national security and foreign policy.
· The National Security Council should coordinate work in those areas requiring the most urgent action.
· Supporting a thorough review and comprehensive reform of the law must be an ambitious public diplomacy effort to restore America’s moral authority.
· The president should quickly issue executive orders to prevent the mistreatment of prisoners and launch a review of existing legal memos that may continue to guide U.S. policy.
· The president should announce the creation of a non-partisan task force on international law comprised of the most respected American legal scholars and statespersons and should be chaired by a person of impeccable integrity.
· The United States should promote a review of the law of “ungoverned spaces” to clarify the obligations of states to exercise effective sovereignty over their territory and the rights of states to respond if they fail to do so.
To download the full reports, click the links below:
Read Dr. Finel’s report here.
Read Mr. Terrill’s report here.
Read Dr. Arend’s report here.
The American Security Project (ASP) is a non-profit, bi-partisan public policy research and education initiative dedicated to fostering knowledge and understanding of a range of national security and foreign policy issues. It is organized around the belief that honest public discussion of national security requires an informed citizenry—one that understands the dangers and opportunities of the twenty-first century and the spectrum of available responses. ASP was formed to help Americans—from opinion leaders to the general public—understand how national security issues relate directly to them, and to explain challenges and threats in a way that spurs constructive action.
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