Legislating the
War on Terror: An Agenda for Reform
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The
attacks of 9/11 and subsequent American actions irrevocably changed the political,
military and legal landscapes of U.S. national security. Terrorists
threw out the old rules of war but the United States still has not decided
on the new ones. Legislating the War on
Terror reveals just how much work there is to be done and offers a fresh
set of ideas for how to begin. It presents an agenda for reforming the
statutory law governing this new battle, balancing the need for security, the
rule of law and the constitutional rights that protect American freedom.
The chapters in Legislating the War on Terror are
organized around the major tools that the United States has deployed against
al Qaeda as well as the legal problems that have developed as a result. Those
tools—detention, criminal process, surveillance, targeted strikes against
terrorist leaders, interrogation, deportation and border control—have
produced varying degrees of controversy. The book examines how Congress should
authorize, regulate and limit their use and under what circumstances their use
should be encouraged. It tackles some of the most challenging dilemmas that
face Congress as it legislates the ground rules for this new era, such as how
to close the Guantánamo Bay prison camp and whether to ban torture during
interrogations of terrorist suspects.
Editor Benjamin Wittes, senior fellow and research director
in public law at the Brookings Institution, leads an authoritative lineup of
legal experts and current and former government officials. Although the authors
represent diverse political points of view, they share the belief that Congress
must play a significant role in shaping U.S. national security policy in
response to terrorism. The contributors include David Kris, author of National Security Investigations and Prosecutions and
assistant attorney general for the National Security Division; Jack Goldsmith,
author of The Terror Presidency and
former assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel; David
Martin, now principal deputy general counsel at the Department of Homeland
Security; Mark Gitenstein, former chief counsel to the Senate Intelligence
Committee and current Ambassador to Romania; Robert Litt, current general
counsel to the Director of National Intelligence; Stuart Taylor Jr. of the
Brookings Institution and the National
Journal; and Matthew Waxman, former deputy assistant secretary of
defense for detainee affairs.
The Editor
Benjamin Wittes is a Senior Fellow and Research
Director in Public Law at the Brookings Institution. He is also author of Law and the Long War (Penguin, 2008). He served
as an editorial writer for the Washington
Post 1997–2006.