Oct. 21 Experts Panel Asks: 'Are We Safer?'
September 24, 2004
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.6190
A group of five nationally known experts on U.S. policy regarding terrorism will probe the Bush administration’s approach to preventing terrorist acts in a special panel discussion hosted by the University of Baltimore School of Law on Thursday, Oct. 21, in the auditorium of the William H. Thumel Sr. Business Center, at the corner of Charles Street and Mt. Royal Avenue.
“Terrorism: Are We Getting More, or Less, Safe?” will begin at 6:15 p.m. with panelists’ presentations followed by a wide-ranging discussion of some of the most pointedly questioned and important issues of the day–national security, counterterrorism, homeland security during Iraq war distraction and the impact of terrorism on the American citizenry. It will conclude with a question and answer session. The event is free and open to the public.
Moderated by School of Law Dean Gilbert Holmes, the panel discussion will feature the following experts:
- Lance Cole, consultant to the 9/11 Commission and a professor at Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law
- Joseph Onek, director of the Liberty and Security Initiative of The Constitution Project and former deputy counsel to the president
- Jeffrey Ian Ross, associate professor in the University of Baltimore’s Division of Criminology, Criminal Justice and Social Policy and a fellow at the Center for International and Comparative Law
- David Schanzer, Democratic staff director to the United States House of Representatives Homeland Security Commission
- Charles Tiefer, professor of law at the University of Baltimore School of Law and former solicitor and deputy general counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives.
A consistently quoted critic of executive-branch misuse of authority, Tiefer is the author of the new Veering Right: How the Bush Administration Subverts the Law for Conservative Causes, his fourth book on national political and legal affairs. His previous publications include the treatise, Congressional Practice and Procedure. Tiefer, former special deputy chief council for the House Iran-Contra Committee, will discuss the administration’s post-9/11 dealings with Saudi Arabia and the likely effects of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s increasing power over Department of Defense civilian employees. (Tiefer will be available for a booksigning shortly after the program.)
Schanzer litigated cases in the U.S. Department of Justice before going to work for Senators William Cohen of Maine and Joseph Biden of Delaware. He then spent two years as special assistant to the Defense Department counsel before becoming legislative director for Sen. Jean Carnahan of Missouri. As House Homeland Security Committee minority staff director, Schanzer directed the staff work on a comprehensive report earlier this year, America at Risk: Closing the Security Gap. He will draw on recent congressional oversight of contemporary security lapses.
Ross is the author of The Dynamics of Political Crime, Controlling State Crime and other works concerned with national security, political violence and crime, corrections and policing. He served as a lead witness for the Canadian Senate’s Special Committee on Terrorism and Public Safety and was a social science analyst with the National Institute of Justice in the Justice Department. He will discuss the impact of terrorism on American society and the syndrome of the “crisis du jour.”
Onek’s leadership in the Liberty and Security Initiative includes defense work for Jose Padilla, an American citizen who was detained as an enemy combatant. Last year, Onek assembled a Supreme Court amicus brief for Padilla signed by a bipartisan array of groups, including the Cato Institute, the People for the American Way, the Center for National Security Studies, the Rutherford Institute and others. Onek also helped recruit a group of former federal judges to sign another brief in support of Padilla’s rights. Onek’s presentation will examine the effects of Bush administration antiterror measures on civil liberties.
A former deputy Democratic special counsel to the U.S. Senate Special Committee investigating “Whitewater” issues, Cole has written frequently on the government’s efforts to compel disclosures by individuals in the face of constitutional protections. He will discuss the risks posed by the Bush administration in declining to treat domestic counterterrorism efforts as separate from the FBI’s other anticrime activities.
Tiefer, who organized the event, said “Are We Getting More, or Less, Safe?” will consider the effects of politics, policies and priorities as they pertain to the fight against terrorism.
“This is a key question in the presidential race, in much the same way that ‘Are we better off than we were four years ago?’ has been in previous races,” Tiefer said. “But it’s also something we ask ourselves every day, and it is at best a challenging question to answer. The panel won’t try to produce the definitive conclusion, but it will frame the issue in ways that you won’t necessarily see on the evening news.”