ACLU
Deputy legal director of the ACLU and director of its Center for Democracy, he’s been a human rights monitor for the military commissions at Guantánamo since 2004; author of Administration of Torture: A Documentary Record from Washington to Abu Ghraib and Beyond
Down to the Wire on the Patriot Act The Senate meets this week in rare recess negotiations about whether to extend controversial provisions of the Patriot Act, including the NSA's bulk phone records collection program. That program, launched after 9/11, is due to expire June 1 if the Senate doesn't come to a consensus on how much and what kind of surveillance best serves the nation. Earlier this month the House voted overwhelmingly in favor of legislation which would reauthorize the Patriot Act while at the same time ending the NSA's bulk collection of phone records. The House also approved certain reforms intended to make the agency's programs more transparent. Will Congress go the way of a recent federal court ruling that called NSA surveillance overly broad and in violation of American's rights to privacy? If the NSA's broad surveillance programs lapse, will the nation be less secure?
How Much Surveillance Will Americans Tolerate? Section 215 of the Patriot Act expires at the end of next month. It authorizes the bulk collection of American telephone records by the National Security Agency — part of what was revealed by Edward Snowden two years ago. President Obama says it's not really needed to keep America safe and that he's willing to let it expire . But Congress is divided. While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants it renewed , a House Committee wants it amended to require the NSA to take court action before collecting some information. With time for action running short, do most Americans understand what's at stake for their privacy? Do they really care?
Obama Declassifies Millions of Documents While on a Hawaiian vacation, President Obama met a December 31 deadline with a sweeping executive order to declassify some 400 million pages of documents, going back to the wars in Vietnam, Korea and World War II. Despite campaign promises for a more open government, since taking office Obama had embraced some Bush Administration efforts to keep state secrets out of open court. Yesterday's order says "no information may remain classified indefinitely." Jameel Jaffer is director of the ACLU's National Security Project.
Human Rights, the Law and the Ongoing Threat of Terror Waterboarding was stopped before the end of the Bush Administration. Humane treatment of prisoners was required by an act of Congress, and rules were laid out in the new Army Field Manual of 2006. President Obama has proclaimed that torture is contrary to America's founding documents and fundamental values. But controversy over so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" continues.
Human Rights, the Law and the Ongoing Threat of Terror Waterboarding was stopped before the end of the Bush Administration. Humane treatment of prisoners was required by an act of Congress. Rules were laid out in the new Army Field Manual of 2006. Candidate Barack Obama excoriated prisoners' "harsh interrogation" in what George Bush called the "war on terror," criticizing the indefinite detention of suspects that Bush said could not be tried as well as "rendition," sending them to be questioned in other countries. President Obama has proclaimed torture as contrary to America's founding documents and fundamental values. But controversy over so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" continues. Are the Obama White House and the CIA now embracing both those policies? Is the US still sanctioning torture? We look at the politics and the realities of national security.
Dueling Speeches over National Security President Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney lined out their differences today in speeches designed to frame the ongoing debate on national security. The President spoke at the National Archives, Cheney addressed the American Enterprise Institute
Obama and Cheney Address the Politics of National Security The President and the former Vice President could hardly disagree more on the right and wrong policies for keeping America safe. In dueling speeches today, they advanced their views and repudiated each other on issues including interrogations, Guantánamo Bay and the Constitution. Speaking at the National Archives, Obama said he'll protect the nation while preserving the rule of law. Cheney spoke at the American Enterprise Institute, where he said critics of tough anti-terrorist measures "distort the truth." We talk to reporters and others about today's quasi-debate. Will it change perceptions of the past? Will it help shape the future?
Will the Senate write a healthcare bill in secret? While Democrats and Republicans argue White House relations with Russia, another question is being decided behind closed doors: who gets help buying health insurance and who doesn't? We hear how the pros and cons are being shrouded in secrecy.
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.