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Karen Greenberg, executive director of NYU Law’s Center on Law and Security (CLS), announced she is leaving to pursue other career opportunities. Greenberg’s tenure as executive director began with the founding of the Center in 2003.  Under her stewardship, CLS has focused on a broad range of issues concerning civil rights, national security, and foreign policy that arose in the wake of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. CLS quickly drew the attention of policymakers, law enforcement officials, journalists and academics, and it has attracted an impressive list of Fellows, including Michael Sheehan, former deputy commissioner of counterterorrism at the NYPD, author Lawrence Wright, who won a 2006 Pulitzer Prize for The Looming Tower: Al Queda and the Road to 9/11, and Baltasar Garzón, an investigating judge for Spain’s National Court, to name a few.  The CLS’s annual retreats at NYU’s La Pietra in Florence have drawn principal players in both law enforcement and government from the United States and the European Union to discuss possible solutions to some of the most challenging issues of our time.

“Karen has done a spectacular job running CLS and leaves big shoes to fill,” said Dean Richard Revesz. “As we reach the tenth anniversary of September 11, the issues CLS was created to study remain as relevant as ever, and I am confident that it will continue to play a leading role in its field.”  The search committee for a new director will be composed of the Center’s four faculty directors, David Golove, Hiller Family Foundation Professor of Law, Stephen Holmes, Walter E. Meyer Professor of Law, Richard Pildes, Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law, and Samuel Rascoff, Associate Professor of Law, as well as Dean Revesz.  “With Osama bin Laden dead, U.S. military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan winding down, and a wave of political upheaval sweeping North Africa and the Middle East,” Golove said, “this is an opportune time to bring new leadership to CLS and sharpen its focus for the coming decade.”

On NPR’s Tell Me More, Karen Greenberg, executive director of The Center on Law and Security will respond to John Yoo, law professor at UC Berkeley, on torture, today at 2 p.m. on AM 820, or at 9 p.m. on 93.9 FM. You can listen online here:  http://www.wnyc.org/shows/tell-me-more/about/

Panetta Says a Captured bin Laden Would ‘Probably’ Be Sent to Guantanamo

CIA Director Leon Panetta told a Senate panel Wednesday that if Osama bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahiri is captured, they would be detained by the military and probably sent to Guantanamo, according to reports. In response to a question by a senator during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on global terror threats, Panetta said, “We would probably move them quickly into military jurisdiction at Bagram [Air Base in Afghanistan] and then eventually move them probably to Guantanamo,” according to the Washington Post and other reports. According to the AP, “White House press secretary Jay Carney said the president remains committed to closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Carney would not speculate on what would happen if bin Laden was captured.”
Panetta Outlines Plan for bin Laden’s Detention if al-Qaeda Leader Is Captured (WaPo)
CIA: If Caught, bin Laden Would Be Sent to Gitmo (AP)
Panetta: If Captured, bin Laden Would Be Held at Guantanamo (The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room)
Panetta Hints that Guantanamo Prison Might Stay Open (LAT)
Close Camps? CIA Chief Would Ship Osama bin Laden to Guantanamo (Miami Herald)
Related:
U.S. Anti-Terror Official Warns Pakistani Group Lashkar-e-Taiba Could Strike in Europe or U.S. (Canadian Press) Continue reading →

Report: Plea Deal for Gitmo Detainee May Be in the Works

The Miami Herald reports that a pre-trial hearing for a Sudanese detainee held at Guantanamo that was scheduled for next week was abruptly canceled late Thursday, with the Pentagon telling reporters “other proceedings” were being planned. The hearing was to be in the case of Noor Uthman Mohammed, an alleged terror trainer in Afghanistan whom the report says is currently the only detainee facing war crimes charges. According to the Miami Herald report, “military sources confirmed this week that the Defense Department was airlifting a jury pool to the base in time for next week’s hearing. Only in the event of a plea would a panel of senior U.S. military officers be called upon to deliberate a for-the-record punishment.”
Is Another War Court Plea Deal on the Horizon? (Miami Herald) Continue reading →

The American Constitution Society’s New York Lawyer Chapter and Fordham University School of Law Student Chapter, along with the  New York State Bar Association on Civil Rights, present a discussion entitled, “Trial and Terror: A Discussion of When, Where and Whether the Obama Administration Should Prosecute Suspected Terrorists.”

The panelists will be James J. Benjamin, Jr., Dafna Linzer, and Matthew Waxman; Eric Jensen will be moderating.

The free event will be held on Monday, November 29th, at the Fordham University School of Law, at 6:30 p.m. More information, including a link to RSVP, can be found here.

Karachi’s Counterterrorism Office Bombed; At Least 18 Are Dead

A police building housing Karachi’s lead counterterrorism agency was attacked by armed gunmen and a car bomb Thursday night, leaving 18 dead and at least 100 wounded, according to reports. The attack took place in the heart of Pakistan’s largest city, close to five-star hotels, state security agencies, and the U.S. consulate. About half a dozen gunmen attacked the office before a truck rammed the building and a massive bomb was detonated. The Wall Street Journal reported that Geo News in Pakistan, a private news channel, said that a “spokesman of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, known as the Pakistan Taliban, claimed responsibility.”
Huge Blast in Karachi Kills 18, Injures 100 (WSJ)
Truck Bombing Shakes Pakistan’s Biggest City (WaPo)
Karachi Counterterrorism Office Is Bombed (NYT)
Taliban Escalate Pakistan Violence with Bombing of Karachi Police Station (Bloomberg)
Related:
Pakistan: Targeted by the Taliban, Sufi Muslims Fight Back (Time)
US Drone Strike ‘Kills Six Militants’ in Pakistan (AFP) Continue reading →

The intertwined topics of government secrecy and citizen privacy have been much in the news lately. Last month’s document disclosures by WikiLeaks have brought new focus to long-standing issues such as the importance of covert information in safeguarding national security, the public’s right to information and open government, and the proper balance to be struck between these interests.

The right of citizens to keep their personal information away from the government’s eyes, and the government’s need to confront potential security threats, also received renewed attention last week following news that the FBI would like the authority to collect certain data from Internet service providers without first needing to get a warrant.

The Center on Law and Security explored these dual concerns in two full-day conferences, held in the spring and fall in 2007. A record of both proceedings is available here.