Dr. Karen J. Greenberg is a noted expert on national security, terrorism, and civil liberties, and also the Director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University’s School of Law. She is the author of The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo’s First 100 Days (2009), which was selected as one of the best books of 2009 by The Washington Post and Slate.com.
Her latest book, Rogue Justice: The Making of the Security State (2016), explores the War on Terror's impact on justice and law in America. She was also co-editor with Joshua L. Dratel of The Enemy Combatant Papers: American Justice, the Courts, and the War on Terror (2008) and The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib (2005). She was also the editor of The Torture Debate in America (2006); Al Qaeda Now (2005); and the Terrorist Trial Report Card, 2001–2011. Dr. Greenberg’s work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Nation, The National Interest, Mother Jones, TomDispatch.com and on major news channels. She is a permanent member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
For the Rethinking Seminar, Dr. Greenberg will discuss The Strategic Threat of Terrorism, including topics such as:
- Has / is the U.S. overreacting to the threat of terrorism?
- The post 9/11 balance and tension between security, justice, and liberty;
- Surveillance and data capture vs. privacy;
- WWII style military tribunals vs. court marshals vs. federal courts for prisoners of war, detainees, etc.;
- Targeted drone killings and the laws of war;
- How does the U.S. reach and maintain the right balance between security, justice, and liberty in the future, or does that balance change depending upon circumstances?
- Historical comparisons of executive wartime powers and the willingness of courts to check the Executive Branch in time of war vs. after a conflict is over.