Benjamin Wittes

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Benjamin Wittes Benjamin Wittes is a senior fellow in Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution and co-director of the Harvard Law School- Brookings Project on Law and Security. He is the author of Detention and Denial: The Case for Candor After Guantanamo, published in November 2011 by the Brookings Institution Press, and co-editor of Constitution 3.0: Freedom and Technological Change (forthcoming from the Brookings Institution Press). He is writing a book on data and technology proliferation and their implications for security. He is also the author of Law and the Long War: The Future of Justice in the Age of Terror, published in June 2008 by The Penguin Press, and the editor of the 2009 Brookings book, Legislating the War on Terror: An Agenda for Reform. He co-founded and co-writes the Lawfare blog (http://www.lawfareblog.com/), which is devoted to non-ideological discussion of the "Hard National Security Choices," and is a member of the Hoover Institution's Task Force on National Security and Law. His previous books include Starr: A Reassessment, which was published in 2002 by Yale University Press, and Confirmation Wars: Preserving Independent Courts in Angry Times, published in 2006 by Rowman & Littlefield and the Hoover Institution. Between 1997 and 2006, he served as an editorial writer for The Washington Post specializing in legal affairs. Before joining the editorial page staff of The Washington Post, Wittes covered the Justice Department and federal regulatory agencies as a reporter and news editor at Legal Times. His writing has also appeared in a wide range of journals and magazines, including The Atlantic, Slate, The New Republic, The Wilson Quarterly, The Weekly Standard, Policy Review, and First Things. Benjamin Wittes was born November 5, 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts, and graduated from Oberlin College in 1990. He has a black belt in taekwondo. | 1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036 | 202.797.6000 | fax 202.797.6004 | brookings edu .

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February 23, 2017 VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION the Honorable
February 23, 2017 VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION The Honorable Jeff Sessions Attorney General U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530 Dear Attorney General Sessions: In the midst of ongoing, fast-paced litigation challenging Executive Order 13769, titled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States,” Acting Attorney General Sally Yates ordered the Department of Justice not to defend the Order. In a number of those cases, Justice Department attorneys had only a few days to draft briefs or prepare for hearings at the time of Ms. Yates’ order to stop working on them. Given the very short timeframe the Department attorneys had, Ms. Yates’ instruction to them not to defend the Executive Order meaningfully reduced their preparation time, even though she was fired late on the night of January 30. As a result, the Department attorneys were not as prepared to defend the Executive Order in court as they would have been without Ms. Yates’ interference. For example, just a few days later at the hearing on the state of Washington’s motion for a temporary restraining order, the Department attorneys did not have relevant factual information on hand to answer the judge’s question about the number of terrorism-related arrests of nationals from the countries at issue in the Executive Order. As a result, they were unable to enter facts into the record to dispute the judge’s false claim that there had been none. This likely affected his decision to grant the motion for a temporary restraining order. In the appeal on that issue, the importance of that omission became clear, and was part of the basis of the appeals court’s ruling against the President.
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This Is Almost Certainly James Comey's Twitter Account
Log in / GIZMODO DEADSPIN FUSION JALOPNIK JEZEBEL KOTAKU LIFEHACKER THE Sign ROOT up This Is Almost CertainlyVIDEO SPLOID JamesPALEOFUTURE Comey’sIO9 SCIENCE REVIEWS FIELD GUIDE Twitter Account Ashley Feinberg 3/30/17 3:29pm · Filed to: JAMES COMEY 2.8M 675 226 Digital security and its discontents—from Hillary Clinton’s emails to ransomware to Tor hacks—is in many ways one of the chief concerns of the contemporary FBI. So it makes sense that the bureau’s director, James Comey, would dip his toe into the digital torrent with a Twitter account. It also makes sense, given Comey’s high profile, that he would want that Twitter account to be a secret from the world, lest his follows and favs be scrubbed for clues about what the feds are up to. What is somewhat surprising, however, is that it only took me about four hours of sleuthing to find Comey’s account, which is not protected. Last night, at the Intelligence and National Security Alliance leadership dinner, Comey let slip that he has both a secret Twitter and an Instagram account in the course of relating a quick anecdote about one of his daughters. Kevin Rincon Follow @KevRincon Fun fact: #FBI director James #Comey is on twitter & apparently on Instagram with nine followers. 8:11 PM - 29 Mar 2017 150 139 Who am I to say no to a challenge? As far as finding Comey’s Twitter goes, the only hint he offered was the fact that he has “to be on Twitter now,” meaning that the account would likely be relatively new.
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Fight Terror, Not Twitter: Insulating Social Media from Material Support Claims
Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review Volume 37 Number 1 Article 1 Fall 2016 Fight Terror, Not Twitter: Insulating Social Media From Material Support Claims Nina I. Brown Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/elr Part of the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons, and the Internet Law Commons Recommended Citation Nina I. Brown, Fight Terror, Not Twitter: Insulating Social Media From Material Support Claims, 37 Loy. L.A. Ent. L. Rev. 1 (2017). Available at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/elr/vol37/iss1/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews at Digital Commons @ Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ELR – BROWN (V4) (DO NOT DELETE) 1/17/2017 5:09 PM FIGHT TERROR, NOT TWITTER: INSULATING SOCIAL MEDIA FROM MATERIAL SUPPORT CLAIMS NINA I. BROWN Social media companies face a new threat: as millions of users around the globe use their platforms to exchange ideas and information, so do terrorists. Terrorist groups, such as ISIS, have capitalized on the ability to spread propaganda, recruit new members, and raise funds through social media at little to no cost. Does it follow that when these terrorists attack, social media is on the hook for civil liability to victims? Recent lawsuits by families of victims killed in terrorist attacks abroad have argued that the proliferation of terrorists on social media—and social media’s reluctance to stop it—violates the Antiterrorism Act.
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July 13, 2020 the Honorable William P. Barr Attorney General U.S
July 13, 2020 The Honorable William P. Barr Attorney General U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Dear Attorney General Barr: President Trump’s commutation of Roger Stone’s prison sentence for obstructing a bipartisan congressional investigation raises serious questions about whether this extraordinary intervention was provided in exchange for Mr. Stone’s silence about incriminating acts by the President. During your confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2019, I asked whether you “believe a President could lawfully issue a pardon in exchange for the recipient’s promise not to incriminate him.”1 Without hesitation or caveat – and under oath – you responded: “No, that would be a crime.”2 Given recently surfaced information indicating that President Trump may have commuted Mr. Stone’s sentence in exchange for his refusal to incriminate the President, pursuant to your own standard, an inquiry by the Justice Department into Mr. Stone’s commutation is clearly warranted. Thanks to recent Freedom of Information Act lawsuits, newly unredacted portions of Special Counsel Mueller’s report reveal that multiple witnesses confirmed then-candidate Trump’s direct knowledge and encouragement of Roger Stone’s efforts to release damaging information about Hillary Clinton stolen by Russian hackers.3 These witnesses’ observations flatly contradict President Trump’s repeated denials of having such knowledge of Mr. Stone’s activities in his written responses to Special Counsel Mueller’s questions.4 After submitting these suspect answers to the Special Counsel, President Trump took to twitter and praised Mr. Stone for being “brave” and having “guts” for refusing to cooperate with investigators and provide incriminating testimony against him.5 Special Counsel Mueller observed that the President’s tweets about 1 Meg Wagner, Veronica Rocha, & Amanda Wills, Trump’s Attorney General Pick Faces Senate Hearing, CNN (last updated Jan.
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Danielle Keats Citron, Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
PREPARED WRITTEN TESTIMONY AND STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD FOR Danielle Keats Citron, Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law HEARING ON “Fostering a Healthier Internet to Protect Consumers” BEFORE THE House Committee on Energy and Commerce October 16, 2019 John D. Dingell Room, 2123, Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. INTRODUCTION Thank you for inviting me to appear before you to testify about corporate responsibility for online activity and fostering a healthy internet to protect consumers. My name is Danielle Keats Citron. I am a Professor of Law at the Boston University School of Law. In addition to my home institution, I am an Affiliate Faculty at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard Law School, Affiliate Scholar at Stanford Law School’s Center on Internet & Society, Affiliate Fellow at Yale Law School’s Information Society Project, and Tech Fellow at NYU Law’s Policing Project. I am also a 2019 MacArthur Fellow. My scholarship focuses on privacy, free speech, and civil rights. I have published more than 30 articles in major law reviews and more than 25 opinion pieces for major news outlets.1 My book Hate Crimes in Cyberspace tackled the phenomenon of cyber stalking and what law, companies, and society can do about it.2 As a member of the American Law Institute, I serve as an adviser on Restatement (Third) Torts: Defamation and Privacy and the Restatement (Third) Information Privacy Principles Project. In my own writing and with coauthors Benjamin Wittes, Robert Chesney, Quinta Jurecic, and Mary Anne Franks, I have explored the significance of Section 230 to civil rights and civil liberties in a digital age.3 * * * Summary: In the early days of the commercial internet, lawmakers recognized that federal agencies could not possibly tackle all noxious activity online.
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Prepared Statement of Benjamin Wittes, Senior Fellow at The
FEBRUARY 2015 Prepared statement of Benjamin Wittes, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, before the House Committee on Armed Services Benjamin Wittes is a senior fellow in Outside Perspectives on the President’s Proposed Authorization for the Use of Governance Studies at The Brookings Military Force Against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Institution. He co-founded and is the editor-in-chief of Lawfare. February 26, 2015 Thank you Chairman Thornberry, Ranking Member Smith, and members of the committee for inviting me to present my views on the President’s proposed Authorization for the Use of Military Force against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.1 I am a senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. I co-founded and am Editor in Chief of Lawfare, a website devoted to sober and serious discussion of “Hard National Security Choices.” I am the author, co-author, or editor of several books on subjects related to law and national security. These include The Future of Violence: Robots and Germs, Hackers and Drones—Confronting a New Age of Threat (forthcoming 2015), Speaking the Law: The Obama Administration’s Addresses on National Security Law (forth- coming 2015), Detention and Denial: The Case for Candor After Guantánamo (2011), Law and the Long War: The Future of Justice in the Age of Terror (2008), and Legislating the War on Terror: An Agenda for Reform (2009). I have written extensively on both the existing 2001 AUMF and on the need for a new one. The views I am expressing here are my own.
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Robert (“Bobby”) Chesney
Robert (“Bobby”) Chesney James Baker Chair and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs | The University of Texas School of Law Director | Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin Co-Founder | Lawfare 512.739.9556 (mobile) | [email protected] Twitter: @bobbychesney EMPLOYMENT University of Texas School of Law James A. Baker III Chair (Spring 2018 – present) Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (Dec. 2011-present) Charles I. Francis Professor in Law (Fall 2009 – Fall 2017) Visiting Professor (Fall 2008 – Spring 2009) Courses: Cybersecurity Law and Policy; National Security Law; Constitutional Law; Law of the Intelligence Community; Seminar: Current Issues in Cybersecurity Policy and Law; The Judicial Role in National Security Affairs; History of Counterterrorism Law and Policy; Law of Armed Conflict; Evidence; Civil Procedure Current University Service: Council for Texas Impact (co-chair, by presidential appointment); Advisory Committee on Classified Research (by presidential appointment); Faculty Council Advisory Committee on Budgets (by presidential appointment) Selected Past University Service: Provost Search Committee (by presidential appointment); LBJ Dean Search Committee (by provost appointment); Faculty Grievance Hearing Pool (by presidential appointment) Current Law School Committee Service: Appointments; Budget; Curriculum. Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, University of Texas The Strauss Center is a university-wide research unit designed to promote
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Prepared Statement of Benjamin Wittes Senior Fellow at The
April 8, 2014 Prepared Statement of Benjamin Wittes Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution before the House Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade Committee on Foreign Affairs “Is Al Qaeda Winning: Grading the Administration’s Counterterrorism Policy” April 8, 2014 OPENING REMARKS hank you, Chairman e, Ranking Member , and members of the subcommittee for inviting me to present my views on the future of the Authorization for thePo Use of Military Force (AUMF)Sherman1 and intelligence T 2 collection under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Acts (FAA). I am a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. I co- founded and am Editor in Chief of Lawfare, a website devoted to sober and serious discussion of “Hard National Security Choices.” I am the author or editor of several books on subjects related to law and national security: Detention and Denial: The Case for Candor After Guantánamo (2011), Law and Benjamin Wittes is a senior the Long War: The Future of Justice in the Age of Terror (2008), and Legislating fellow in Governance the War on Terror: An Agenda for Reform (2009). I have written extensively Studies at The Brookings Institution. He co-founded both on the AUMF and on NSA collection under various provisions of the and is the editor-in-chief of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).3 The views I am expressing here Lawfare. are my own. The topics of the vitality and adequacy of the AUMF for the conflict the United States is currently fighting and the NSA surveillance programs that have, of late, dominated news headlines may seem largely unconnected.
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Future Challenges: Obfuscation and Candor
A future chAllenges essAy Obfuscation and candor Reforming Detention in a World in Denial by Benjamin Wittes Koret-taube task force on national security and law www.futurechallengesessays.com “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn’t exist,” says the low-grade con man to the supposedly-crack Customs agent in the 1995 movie The Usual Suspects, speaking of the great criminal mastermind Keyser Söze. The arrogant Customs Agent Kujan listens with patronizing incredulity to stories of the untrackable, invincible Söze, convinced he knows the truth and can get the con man national security and law before him to spill the beans over time. Only in the movie’s final seconds does Agent Kujan realize that this con man actually is the master criminal himself—or at least is exploiting his legend. And, having convinced Agent Kujan that he doesn’t exist, he has disappeared: “And like that—he’s gone!” American counter-terrorism policy has a bit of Agent Kujan’s Keyser Söze problem. on task force The more successful it is, the less people believe that the Devil really exists—at least as an urgent public policy problem requiring the sort of tough measures that challenge other interests and values. The longer the United States goes without suffering a mass-casualty attack on the homeland, the less apt people grow to believe that Al Qaeda really poses a lethal threat, that September 11 was more than a lucky strike, that terrorism poses challenges not addressable through conventional law enforcement means alone, or that the problem ranks up there with other pressing challenges of the moment—challenges that, unlike Al Qaeda, visibly threaten harm on a daily basis.
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Quinta Jurecic's CV
QUINTA JURECIC EMPLOYMENT Brookings Institution Fellow May 2021—present Research Analyst July 2017 — April 2018 Research Assistant July 2016 — July 2017 Lawfare Senior Editor May 2021—present Managing Editor April 2018 —May 2021 Deputy Managing Editor January 2018 — April 2018 Associate Editor July 2016 — August 2017 The Atlantic May 2018 — present Contributing Writer Contribute essays regularly to the publication. From November 2019 through August 2019, wrote a weekly feature with Benjamin Wittes on the impeachment of President Trump and its aftermath. Georgetown School of Foreign Service August 2019 — December 2019 Adjunct Professor Taught undergraduate writing seminar on “Writing About Law.” Washington Post August 2017 — January 2018 Editorial Writer Wrote unsigned editorials for the Washington Post Editorial Board, focusing on law and national politics. Contributed multiple op-eds for publication on the paper’s editorial page. EDUCATION Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT B.A. in Government, High Honors and University Honors (the University’s highest award) 2015 Additional Honors: Phi Beta Kappa Honors Thesis: “Records of Anguish: Democracy, Dirty Hands, and the Myth of the Tragic Politician” FELLOWSHIPS Craig Newmark Cyber Journalism Fellow October 2019 1 PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT Co-host of “Arbiters of Truth,” Lawfare’s weekly podcast series on disinformation and misinformation. Contributed commentary on MSNBC and radio networks including WNYC, WHYY, and KCRW, as well as print outlets including the New York Times, the New Yorker, and Politico.
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Administrative Appeal/Request for Reconsideration of the Denial of Request for Correction Under Information Quality Guidelines
September 13, 2018 Via Express Mail Via Express Mail Department of Homeland Security Department of Justice ATTN: Office of the Chief Information ATTN: Office of Legislative Affairs Officer/Information Quality Officer 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 245 Murray Lane, SW Washington, D.C. 20530-0001 Washington, D.C. 20528 Re: Administrative Appeal/Request for Reconsideration of the Denial of Request for Correction Under Information Quality Guidelines To the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice: On January 16, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) (collectively, the “Departments”) issued a report entitled “Executive Order 13780: Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States, Initial Section 11 Report” (“Report”). This report was rife with inaccuracies and methodological flaws, and wholly lacking in transparency and objectivity, all in direct violation of the Information Quality Act (“IQA”) and its implementing regulations. On February 8, 2018, Petitioners here filed an administrative petition (“Petition”), attached hereto as Exhibit 1, identifying at least nine distinct violations under the IQA and requesting that the Departments either rescind or correct the Report. The Departments denied the Petition without responding to the majority of errors that Petitioners identified, in letters attached hereto as Exhibit 2. To the extent that the Departments addressed the identified errors and inadequacies at all, the responses are inadequate. The Departments apparently maintain that their obligations under the IQA are satisfied because the Report included accurate information that was accurately described. The Departments’ premise is wrong, because the Petition pointed out several instances of straightforward data inaccuracies that the Departments have failed to explain.
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The National Security Agency at the Crossroads Speaker
THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY AT THE CROSSROADS SPEAKER BIOS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2 8:30 pm EVENING ADDRESS [invitation only] Mr. John C. (Chris) Inglis retired from the Department of Defense in January 2014 following over 41 years of federal service, including 28 years at NSA and seven and a half years as its senior civilian and Deputy Director. As the NSA Deputy Director, Mr. Inglis acted as the Agency's chief operating officer, responsible for guiding and directing strategies, operations and policy. Mr. Inglis holds advanced degrees in engineering and computer science from Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, and the George Washington University. He is also a graduate of the Kellogg Business School executive development program, the USAF Air War College, Air Command and Staff College, and Squadron Officers' School. Mr. Inglis’ military career includes over 30 years of service in the US Air Force -- nine years on active duty and twenty-one years in the Air National Guard - - from which he retired as a Brigadier General in 2006. He holds the rating of Command Pilot and commanded units at the squadron, group, and joint force headquarters levels. Mr. Inglis' significant Awards include the Clements award as the US Naval Academy's Outstanding Military Faculty member (1984), three Presidential Rank Awards (2000, 2004, 2009), the USAF Distinguished Service Medal (2006), the Boy Scouts of America Distinguished Eagle Scout Award (2009), the Director of National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal (2014), and The President’s National Security Medal (2014). THURSDAY, APRIL 3 8:50 am WELCOME REMARKS Bobby Chesney is Director of the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law and the Charles I.
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