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Guantánamo

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioPresident Obama's Decision on Closing Guantánamo

Benjamin Wittes, September 29, 2009, The Washington Post

President Obama's decision not to go to Congress for help in establishing reasonable standards for the continued detention of Guantánamo detainees is a failure of leadership in the project of putting American law on a sound basis for a long-term confrontation with terrorism, writes Benjamin Wittes. It is bad for the country, for national security and for civil liberties, and represents a virtually wholesale adoption of the failed policies of his predecessor. Read More

Guantánamo, Legal Architecture for the War on Terror, Terrorism, The Presidency, U.S. Congress

VIDEO

Save to My PortfolioDetainee Abuse Reviewed

Benjamin Wittes, August 28, 2009

Attorney General Eric Holder appointed a special prosecutor to investigate CIA operatives’ alleged abuse of terrorism detainees. Benjamin Wittes says officials from both parties question the reach of the inquest, but that Holder has acted entirely appropriately.

Legal Architecture for the War on Terror, Terrorism, U.S. Department of Justice, National Security, Guantánamo

VIDEO

Save to My PortfolioHow Should the Obama Administration Handle Guantánamo Bay Detainees?

Benjamin Wittes, August 05, 2009

The Obama administration is considering two different options for prosecuting Guantánamo Bay detainees in the United States. One option calls for trying detainees in several different federal courts in New York, Washington, D.C. and Virginia. The other idea is to try all such cases at a super-max prison in either Michigan or Kansas. Benjamin Wittes says resolving the many issues associated with Guantánamo Bay presents a challenge for the administration.

Guantánamo, Legal Architecture for the War on Terror, Terrorism, Justice and Law, Executive Branch

PAST EVENT

Save to My PortfolioThe Scouting Report: Delays in Closing Guantánamo Bay

Wednesday, July 29, 2009
12:30 PM to 1:30 PM
Washington, DC

President Obama recently announced that his administration will need at least six more months to devise a long-term plan for detainees in the military detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba who cannot be tried but are considered too dangerous for release. Brookings expert Benjamin Wittes joined Fred Barbash, senior editor at Politico, in a live web chat about the challenges the Obama administration faces in closing Guantánamo. Read More

Guantánamo, Legal Architecture for the War on Terror, Terrorism

BOOK

Save to My PortfolioLegislating the War on Terror: An Agenda for Reform

Benjamin Wittes, July 01, 2009

Editor Benjamin Wittes leads an authoritative lineup of legal experts and former government officials, many of whom have served on the legal front lines of the War on Terror. Together they present an agenda for reforming the statutory law governing this new battle, balancing the need for security, the rule of law, and the constitutional rights of freedom. Read More

Terrorism, Legal Architecture for the War on Terror, Guantánamo

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioUnited States Detention Policy: Will Obama Follow Bush or FDR?

Benjamin Wittes and Jack Goldsmith, June 29, 2009, The Washington Post

President Obama seems poised to adopt the Bush administration's unilateral approach to detention. This approach has failed President Bush and it will not serve President Obama any better, write Benjamin Wittes and Jack Goldsmith. The president can still get what he needs on detention, they say, if he works from Congress's bipartisan center, releases more substantial information about the detainees he thinks cannot be set free, and speaks often about the need for stable rules to govern non-criminal detentions. Read More

Legal Architecture for the War on Terror, The Presidency, U.S. Congress, Terrorism, Courts

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioDesigning Detention: A Model Law for Terrorist Incapacitation

Benjamin Wittes and Colleen A. Peppard, June 26, 2009, The Brookings Institution

Designing Detention: A Model Law for Terrorist IncapacitationClosing the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay by President Obama's January deadline is pressuring the administration to craft a new system for incarcerating terrorist suspects, possibly through an executive order. Benjamin Wittes and Colleen Peppard suggest instead a model law for terrorist incapacitation. Read More

Legal Architecture for the War on Terror, Terrorism, Justice and Law, Guantánamo, Executive Branch

VIDEO

Save to My PortfolioPresident Obama's Plan to Close the Prison Camp at Guantánamo Bay

Benjamin Wittes, May 22, 2009

As the national security debate continues, one question is whether the president has provided enough specifics for lawmakers to accede to his requests. There are no easy options for closing the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, according to Wittes; as commander in chief, Obama must weigh all risks to Americans.

Legal Architecture for the War on Terror, The Presidency, Guantánamo, Justice and Law, Terrorism

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioObama's Guantánamo Blueprint and America's Enemies

Benjamin Wittes, May 21, 2009, The New York Times

Obama's Guantánamo Blueprint and America's EnemiesLast week, President Obama outlined his approach to closing the Guantánamo Bay detention center on the heels of Congress voting overwhelmingly to block the $80 million he requested to close the the prison. The speech was forward-looking, writes Brookings expert Ben Wittes, in that he maintained the need for a preventative detention system created by Congress and overseen by the courts. Read More

Legal Architecture for the War on Terror, The Presidency, Guantánamo, Justice and Law, Terrorism

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioLooking Forward, Not Backward: Refining American Interrogation Law

Stuart Taylor, Jr. and Benjamin Wittes, May 10, 2009, The Brookings Institution, Georgetown University Law Center and the Hoover Institution

Benjamin Wittes and Stuart Taylor examine how to amend American interrogation laws to balance the need to avoid the past administration's excesses against the need to get intelligence from captured terrorists. They review the post-September 11 evolution of Bush administration policies on interrogation, the experiences of the CIA and the military and the lessons to be learned from those experiences. Read More

Legal Architecture for the War on Terror, Justice and Law, Guantánamo, U.S. Congress, Executive Branch

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioBetter Rules for Terrorism Trials

Wells C. Bennett and Robert S. Litt , May 08, 2009, The Brookings Institution, Georgetown University Law Center and the Hoover Institution

More than seven years after 9/11, the government’s legal, practical and moral authority to detain suspected terrorists without trial remains a subject of fierce debate. Robert Litt and Wells Bennett say Congress could significantly ameliorate the problem by authorizing the creation of a National Security Bar, a permanent corps of security-cleared lawyers who could represent defendants in terrorism-related cases. Read More

Legal Architecture for the War on Terror, Justice and Law, Guantánamo, U.S. Congress, Executive Branch

PAST EVENT

Save to My PortfolioGuantanamo Detainees: Is a National Security Court the Answer?

Tuesday, March 17, 2009
10:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Washington, DC

Guantanamo Detainees: Is a National Security Court the Answer?President Obama’s decision to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp has left many thorny questions for his administration to resolve. On March 17, the Brookings Institution hosted a Judicial Issues Forum in partnership with the Progressive Policy Institute to examine these questions. Read More

Legal Architecture for the War on Terror, Guantánamo, Terrorism, Courts, National Security

VIDEO

Save to My PortfolioPresident Obama's Plan to Close Guantánamo

Benjamin Wittes, January 22, 2009

Ben Wittes says that President Obama’s three executive orders on closing Guantanamo Bay and detainee treatment are more of a process than a solution for the problem. In reality, he says, it does less than many expected.

Guantánamo, Legal Architecture for the War on Terror, Courts, Civil Liberties, Executive Branch

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioThe Obama Orders: A Quick and Dirty Analysis

Benjamin Wittes, January 22, 2009, The Brookings Institution

The Obama Orders: A Quick and Dirty AnalysisIn his second full day in office, President Obama issued three major executive orders concerning interrogation and detention in the war on terrorism. As expert Ben Wittes writes, the most eagerly anticipated order closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay is far less significant than the interrogation order, and falls short of answering the major detention-policy questions facing America today, including the fate of Guantanamo’s residents. Read More

Guantánamo, Legal Architecture for the War on Terror, Executive Branch, Terrorism, Courts

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioThe Challenges of Closing Guantánamo

Benjamin Wittes, January 13, 2009, The New York Times

The Challenges of Closing GuantánamoPresident-elect Barack Obama plans to fulfill his campaign promise and issue an executive order next Wednesday directing the closing of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. Benjamin Wittes joined experts in a New York Times running commentary to discuss the challenges the new administration will face in closing Guantánamo. Read More

Guantánamo, Legal Architecture for the War on Terror, Courts, Civil Liberties, Executive Branch

In Brief

Since January 2002, the Pentagon has detained hundreds of men it claims are “enemy combatants” in the U.S.-led war on terror at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba. Over the past seven years, the prison has drawn international outrage—and criticism at home—from those who claim that U.S. detention policy flouts American legal norms and international law as embodied in the Geneva Conventions. On the campaign trail, Barack Obama pledged to shut down the facility; as president, he has issued an order for its closure. Brookings experts examine some of the challenges the new administration will face in grappling with the legal issues Guantánamo raises.

Featured Experts

Benjamin Wittes

Benjamin Wittes

Senior Fellow, Governance Studies

Benjamin Wittes focuses on the Supreme Court; judicial nominations and confirmations; and legal issues surrounding the war on terrorism.
Read More

Michael E. O'Hanlon

Michael E. O'Hanlon

Director of Research and Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy
The Sydney Stein, Jr. Chair

Michael O’Hanlon specializes in U.S. national security policy. He is senior author of the Iraq Index. A former defense budget analyst who advised members of Congress on military spending, he specializes in Iraq, North Korea, homeland security, the use of military force and other defense issues.
Read More

Stuart Taylor, Jr.

Stuart Taylor, Jr.

Nonresident Senior Fellow, Governance Studies

Stuart Taylor, a Newsweek contributing editor and columnist at National Journal, focuses on constitutional law and the Supreme Court.


Read More

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Q&A with Ben Wittes

President Obama's Plan to Close Guantánamo

Ben Wittes says that President Obama’s three executive orders on closing Guantanamo Bay and detainee treatment are more of a process than a solution for the problem. In reality, he says, it does less than many expected.

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Spotlight

Policy CenterCenter on Children and Families

The Center on Children and Families studies policies on the well-being of America's children and their parents and seeks a more effective means of addressing poverty, inequality and lack of opportunity in the United States.

TopicHealth Care

Brookings is committed to producing innovative policy solutions to our nation’s most difficult challenges. The country may face no more important domestic policy challenge than the much-needed reform of our health care system. Through an institution-wide effort, Brookings delivers new ideas and offers policy solutions to improve health care both at home and globally.

ExpertVanda Felbab-Brown

Vanda Felbab-Brown focuses on the national security implications of illicit economies and strategies for managing them. She is an adjunct professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

ExpertSuzanne Maloney

Suzanne Maloney studies Iran, the political economy of the Persian Gulf and Middle East energy policy. A former U.S. State Department policy advisor, she has also counseled private companies on Middle East issues.

ProgramGovernance Studies

Governance Studies explores political institutions of the United States and other democracies to assess how they govern, how their practices compare and how citizens and public servants can advance sound governance.

Research ProjectLatin America Initiative

The Latin America Initiative provides high-quality, in-depth, and independent research across a range of economic and political issues, and offers policy recommendations aimed at U.S. and Latin American policymakers.

ExpertIsabel V. Sawhill

A nationally known budget expert, Isabel Sawhill focuses on domestic poverty and federal fiscal policy. She is also co-director of the Center on Children and Families at Brookings.

ExpertAmy Liu

Amy Liu is deputy director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. Her policy studies include economic competitiveness, metropolitan growth and development, governance reforms, urban reinvestment, and social equity.

Policy CenterEngelberg Center for Health Care Reform

The Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform provides practical solutions to achieve high-quality, innovative, affordable health care with particular emphasis on identifying opportunities on the national, state and local levels.

ExpertDomenico Lombardi

As president of the Oxford Institute for Economic Policy, Domenico Lombardi’s work at Brookings focuses on the international financial crisis and the reform of the IMF and the World Bank. He is an expert on G-20 and G8 Summits.

ExpertFederiga Bindi

Federiga Bindi is a leading expert on European political integration. She has a broad experience in government and held a number of posts in international organizations. Bindi currently serves as an advisor to the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Her research focuses on the EU, transatlantic relations; EU states foreign policies, global governance issues.

ExpertMark McClellan

Mark McClellan works on promoting high-quality, innovative and affordable health care. Once commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Dr. McClellan now directs the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform.

Research ProjectBrookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement

The Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement monitors displacement problems worldwide, works with governments, regional bodies, international organizations and civil society to create more effective policies and institutional arrangements for Internally Displaed Persons.

ExpertRichard Joseph

Richard Joseph is John Evans Professor of International History and Politics at Northwestern University. Former fellow of The Carter Center, Atlanta, he focuses on African governance, political economy, and democratization.

ExpertTed Gayer

Ted Gayer is the co-director of the Economic Studies program and the Joseph A. Pechman Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He conducts research on a variety of economic issues, focusing particularly on public finance, environmental and energy economics, housing, and regulatory policy.

TopicEducation

The economic and political well-being of any society requires a well-educated citizenry. Brookings’s work extends beyond the K-12 bookends to include pre-school interventions, higher education and the challenges of education in developing countries.