UPCOMING EVENT
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
12:30 PM to 1:30 PM
Washington, DC
On Wednesday, December 2, Senior Fellow Ben Wittes will participate in a live web chat and will answer questions about President Obama’s plans for closing Guantánamo, Khalid Sheik Mohammed’s upcoming trial, and White House Counsel Greg Craig’s sudden resignation. Politico’s Fred Barbash will moderate the discussion. Read More
VIDEO
Benjamin Wittes, November 18, 2009
The decision to prosecute alleged 9/11 master-mind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-conspirators in a civil trial in the Southern District of New York sparks debate on how to best try terrorism suspects. Benjamin Wittes offers his views on the significance of trying terror detainees in the U.S. civilian judicial system.
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
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
VIDEO
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.
VIDEO
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.
PAST EVENT
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
BOOK
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
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
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
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Benjamin Wittes and Colleen A. Peppard, June 26, 2009, The Brookings Institution
Closing 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
VIDEO
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.
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Benjamin Wittes, May 21, 2009, The New York Times
Last 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
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Kenneth Anderson, May 11, 2009, The Brookings Institution, Georgetown University Law Center and the Hoover Institution
American domestic law has long accepted the use of targeted killings as self-defense toward ends of vital national security that do not necessarily fall within the strict terms of armed conflict. However, the legal space for it and the legal rationales on which it has been traditionally justified are in danger of shrinking, writes Kenneth Anderson. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
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
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
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
PAST EVENT
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
10:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Washington, DC
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