National and International Security

Major David J. R. Frakt ’94, a U.S. Air Force JAG officer, discussed his ongoing representation of a detainee in the war on terror, in a February 23 panel discussion at HLS. The event was sponsored by the American Constitution Society, the National Security and Law Association and the Harvard Human Rights Journal. Copies of Frakt’s article, “Closing Argument at Guantánamo: The Torture of Mohammed Jawad,” which will soon appear in the Human Rights Journal, were distributed to the audience.

Today, the U.S. government outsources a significant portion of its work—in such key areas as national security, military intelligence, environmental monitoring, prison management, and interrogation of terrorism suspects. It’s a reality that's here to stay, according to Professors Martha Minow and Jody Freeman LL.M. ’91 S.J.D. ’95, and it raises important questions about accountability, transparency and the rule of law.

For those who work in the field of human rights during times of war, Afghanistan is the front line. For the past year, Erica Gaston ’07 has lived in Kabul as a Henigson Human Rights Fellow, assisting victims of the war and studying the conflict.

Lieutenant Colonel Gregory E. Maggs ’88 is a reserve officer in the Army JAG Corps. He is senior associate dean for academic affairs and a professor of law at George Washington University Law School, specializing in commercial law, constitutional law, contracts, and counter-terrorism law.

Michael Froman ’91 has been named deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, a position to be held jointly at the National Security Council and the National Economic Council.

Huzaifa Parhat, a fruit peddler, has been imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay Detention Center for the last seven years. He is not a terrorist. He’s a mistake, a victim of the war against al Qaeda. An interrogator first told him that the military knew he was not a threat to the United States in 2002.

The following article written by HLS Professor Noah Feldman, “Fighting the last war,” was published in the Nov. 30, 2008, edition of The New York Times Magazine. He is a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

For all his eloquence and conviction, Jack Goldsmith is a quiet man. For three years, he remained silent about his brief and controversial stint as head of the Office of Legal Counsel in George W. Bush’s Department of Justice. And even following the much-publicized publication of his book “The Terror Presidency” in September, Goldsmith does not relish the steady demand for comment about his Department of Justice tenure.

This year, Summer Public Interest Funding enabled HLS students to explore public service in 27 states and 35 countries around the world. More than $1.8 million Summer Public Interest Funding was awarded to 373 students this summer. Here’s a look at what four students did with their summer funding.

Michael B. Chertoff ’78, who will be stepping down as secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security next January when a new Presidential administration takes office, took time following a panel presentation in October to answer questions about his experiences on the job and his plans for the future.

Is the war on terror succeeding? That was the question for an all-star panel of experts at Harvard Law School on Oct. 24. (View webcast)

The following op-ed, "Indictments are not the best revenge," written by Professor Alan Dershowitz was published in the September 12, 2008, edition of the Wall Street Journal.

At a Dean’s Forum moderated by HLS Dean Elena Kagan ’86, Seth Waxman was joined by Professor Jack Goldsmith for a wide-ranging discussion of Boumediene v. Bush and the three earlier cases in which the Court has addressed post-9/11 constitutional and statutory questions.

Experts on terrorism were on hand for a panel discussion titled “Dealing with Terrorism: What Congress and the President Should Do.” The panelists discussed what changes they think should be adopted to better deal with the legal issues that have become controversial in dealing with the war on terror, including interrogation techniques, detention facilities, surveillance, and torture.

There’s a saying: Do what you love, and the money will follow. For Adam Szubin ’99, it’s a little different: With some early help from a Heyman Fellowship, he’s been able to do what he loves—and follow the money.

Assistant Professor Gabriella Blum LL.M. ’01 S.J.D. ’03, an international law scholar, is a native of Israel, where, as a young officer in the Israel Defense Forces International Law Department, she was involved in Israeli-Arab peace negotiations.

Iraq war veteran Erik Swabb ’09 recently returned to Iraq and was embedded with a U.S. combat unit, hoping to gain an informed assessment of…

The following article, Buildup to the next war, written by Harvard Law School Professor Noah Feldman, was published in the New York Times Magazine on August 8, 2008.

Last week, five current Harvard Law School students who have served or are currently serving in the U.S. armed forces spoke to a packed audience about their experiences in Iraq. Panelists Robert Merrill '08, Geoff Orazem '09, Erik Swabb '09, Hagan Scotten '10, and Kurt White '10 each drew upon their varied military posts during the invasion, the Second Battle of Fallujah, and counterinsurgency operations, to explain what it is like to serve as a junior officer in Iraq.

In his new book, “Is There a Right to Remain Silent? Coercive Interrogation and the Fifth Amendment After 9/11,” (Oxford University Press 2008), Professor Alan Dershowitz examines the status of the Fifth Amendment privilege in a post 9/11 “preventive” state.

Don't count on the next president to undo George W. Bush's legal policies in the war on terrorism. All three remaining presidential candidates have pledged to close the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, pay greater respect to law, tamp down unilateral presidential powers, and enhance America's stature abroad.