Just Security, an online forum for the rigorous analysis of law, rights, and U.S. national security policy, launched on September 23. An event celebrating the launch will take place at NYU Washington, D.C. on September 25 titled “When Reporting is a Crime: National Security and the Press After Snowden and Sterling.”
Ryan Goodman, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Professor of Law, is co-editor-in-chief of the new blog along with Steve Vladeck, professor of law at the American University Washington College of Law. Just Security’s primary audience includes governmental officials and legislators, foreign policy experts, and journalists who work on U.S. national security and international affairs.
“We wanted to create a platform that brings together some of the world’s leading legal experts to provide rapid reactions to tough national security problems facing decision-makers inside and outside government,” said Goodman, who has written extensively on the issue of targeted killings and detention authority, and whose work has dealt with the evaluation of human rights treaties and the law of armed conflict.
Just Security will provide balanced and broad perspectives that include: constitutional analyses of major legislation and executive actions; information about the impact of U.S. national security policies inside foreign countries; and scrutiny of international legal developments that could affect U.S. actions.
Led by Goodman and Vladeck, Just Security has lined up a number of founding editors and guest posts from individuals with significant U.S. government experience, including Harold Koh, former legal advisor to the Department of State, Ambassador Cameron Munter, and Mary DeRosa, Deputy Counsel to the President for National Security Affairs and Legal Adviser to the National Security Counsel; civil society attorneys like Shaheed Fatima (U.K.) and Hina Shamsi (U.S.); law professors like Orin Kerr and Michael Schmitt; and other leading voices like Jennifer Granick, Luis Moreno Ocampo, and Julian Sanchez.
The board of editors for Just Security includes a number of NYU Law faculty whose work is closely tied to issues of national security: Philip Alston, John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law; Sarah Knuckey, Research Director of the Law School’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ); Meg Satterthwaite, Professor of Clinical Law; Stephen Schulhofer, Robert B. McKay Professor of Law; and University Professor Jeremy Waldron. In advance of its launch, the blog has established a presence on Twitter as @just_security.
The launch event, a roundtable discussion about national security leaks and the press, will feature panelists including New York Times Washington correspondent Charlie Savage, Slate senior editor Dahlia Lithwick, Kenneth Wainstein, former Assistant Attorney General to President George W. Bush, Bob Corn-Revere, a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute specializing in First Amendment law, Lucy Dalglish, dean of the University of Maryland’s College of Journalism and former executive director of the Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press, and Gabriel Schoenfeld, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former senior advisor to presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Watch the video of the launch event here:
Posted on September 19, 2013