Middle East & North Africa

"...[A]s disconcerting as the overcrowding and financial strain are, they are not as troubling as the prospect of the prison system becoming a breeding ground for a new insurgency, as was the case with the U.S. prison system in Iraq. There, incarcerated insurgent leaders used their time to develop strategies and recruit new fighters for radical groups."

Faced with an extremist prisoner population numbered in the thousands, Saudi officials developed tools intending to prevent prisoner radicalization, to mitigate the risk when an alleged or convicted terrorist was released, and to deal with domestic political concerns about prisoner treatment. What emerged was a unique and highly tailored approach that included rehabilitation-oriented programs in prisons and at prisoner rehabilitation centers, and 'aftercare' support for recently released prisoners.

The risks posed by the proliferation of cyber weapons are gaining wide recognition among security planners. Yet the general reaction of scholars of international relations has been to neglect the cyber peril owing to its technical novelties and intricacies. This attitude amounts to either one or both of two claims: the problem is not of sufficient scale to warrant close inspection, or it is not comprehensible to a non-technical observer. This seminar challenged both assertions.

"Egypt's future is not just about democracy, but about the basics of public security. If Egypt can't satisfy both simultaneously, then the Spring is lost. The battles on the street now are not about a unified vision of Egypt's future, but about competing visions of Egypt's fate."

"Instead of calling for military action to replace slow diplomatic efforts, Obama is using the case to justify harsher diplomatic efforts. Until more facts are disclosed, the true nature of Iran's intentions are merely subject for speculation. Was it an assassination attempt? Was it a ruse? Was it a crazy overreach by low-level officials? Until we know more, tougher economic sanctions are justified, while rumors about the stability of the regime and its control over subordinates can flourish. In any case, US interest is being served."

"If we accept the charges made in the complaint and take Arbabsiar's words at face-value, we know that two Quds Force officers unsuccessfully and sloppily arranged, through intermediaries they thought to be associates of a Mexican drug cartel, to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador in Washington, D.C.  There is no evidence in the complaint to support the claim that other elements of the Iranian government knew about, approved of, or ordered this plot."

"The American goal in Syria and Yemen — just like Libya — must be to convince authoritarian leaders that, absent significant internal reforms, they must go. The indictments against Khadafy not only threaten to undermine a potential exit strategy for him, but may also give other Arab leaders more incentive to fight till the end."

Gabriella Blum and Philip Heymann reject the argument that traditional American values embodied in domestic and international law can be ignored in any sustainable effort to keep the United States safe from terrorism. In Laws, Outlaws, and Terrorists, they demonstrate that the costs are great and the benefits slight from separating security and the rule of law.

Winner of the 2010 Chicago-Kent College of Law/Roy C. Palmer Civil Liberties Prize

"POLICY ANALYSTS in Cambridge and policy wonks in Washington are all astir , trying to ascertain whether the anti-US rhetoric by President Vladimir Putin of Russia at a conference in Munich was mainly for his home audience or signaled a resurgent rivalry with the United States...."