Center on Law and Security Seeks Research Assistants
The Center on Law and Security is seeking research assistants for Fall 2009 and Spring 2010. Research assistants at the Center aid the Center’s research fellows in their research, as well as being assigned to one or more ongoing project. The Center is specifically seeking research assistance for the following three projects, although numerous new projects arise over the course of any given year.
Accountability in the War on Terror
The Center’s Accountability Project focuses on creating a historical record of the actions of the Bush Administration. The project currently focuses on the use of coercive interrogation techniques, however the Center expects to move on to the issues surrounding questionably legal surveillance of U.S. persons and the justification for the war in Iraq.
The Center on Law and Security seeks law students to review documents and help prepare an index and database, as if in preparation for major litigation. Hearings, emails, Inspector General Reports, and other documents have developed the historical record of the reasoning, rhetoric and actions of the executive branch. A large part of this project will be to identify questions, missing documents, and potential witnesses, as well as possible statutory violations. This will call for intelligent management and careful reading of documents which are complex and sometimes heavily redacted.
Trying Terrorists in the Federal Courts
As the Obama administration considers whether and how to move Guantanamo detainees into federal prosecutions, evaluation of the capabilities of Article III courts to handle terrorism cases has become vital to national security policy. The Center on Law and Security’s Terrorist Trial: A Report Card series identifies and evaluates criminal cases involving suspected terrorists in the U.S. since September 11th. It reports charges filed by the government in these cases, whether these charges are dismissed or taken to trial, and discusses the results of any proceedings that in fact occur, including plea bargains and trials, as well as relevant characteristics of the plots alleged, defendants, and criminal procedure in these cases.
The Center seeks law students to aid in reviewing these cases. The final Report Card is due out in October, so this project is heavily weighted towards the beginning of the fall semester. Students will review pre-written case summaries for relevant trends among cases, including uses of particular prosecutorial techniques, sentencing practices and defense techniques.
Cyber Security and Civil Liberties
The Center is seeking one legal research assistant with prior experience and interest in the area of cyber security, intellectual property, and civil liberties. The cyber security research assistant will be expected to take a leading role in investigating and explaining the necessity for domestic cyber security, as well as the threats national cyber security poses to intellectual property and civil liberties.
Interested students should send unofficial transcripts, résumés, and cover letters to Francesca Laguardia.
September 9th 2009