Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Recognizing that the war on terror will not be won on the battlefield alone, the Center for Law & Counterterrorism (CLC) examines the myriad legal issues that arise in the prosecution of the global campaign against radical Islamist terrorists.  The CLC is a joint project of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the National Review Institute.  It is co-chaired by Andrew C. McCarthy, one of the nation's leading experts on terrorism and the law, and David Rivkin, a partner at the law firm Baker Hostetler LLP and former White House official.  FDD Senior Fellow Tom Joscelyn serves as the executive director.

“Given the evolution of the war on terror over the past five years, the Center [for Law & Counterterrorism] could not be more timely.”
— Roger Pilon, Cato

The Center for Law & Counterterrorism carries out its critical mission by:

• Writing and speaking widely and publicly on the major legal disputes that arise in the war on terror.
• Participating in litigation likely to be of significant consequence to our national security and our ability to prosecute the war successfully.
• Organizing programs and seminars on the war's most salient issues.
• Presenting nationally renowned experts from a broad ideological cross-section to provide both depth and practical suggestions for the way forward.
• Testifying before Congress on national security issues.

Highlights of the Center for Law & Counterterrorism include:

• Filing amicus curiae brief supporting the legality of the National Security Agency's terrorist surveillance program as a tool of war at the president's disposal.
• Providing policy makers with legal arguments that rebutted free-speech objections to the U.S. Treasury Department's designation of al-Manar, a Hezbollah owned-and-financed media outlet, as a global terrorist entity.
• Highlighting court rulings that both advanced and were harmful to prosecuting the war on terrorism.
• Providing analysis in the congressional debate over terrorist surveillance legislation.
• Highlighting solutions to the Supreme Court's Boumediene decision granting constitutional Habeas Corpus rights to terrorists captured on the battlefield.
• Providing briefings to Members of Congress and their staff on the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, including an overview of the Guantanamo population and the difficulties in transferring detainees to jihadist hotspots such as Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.
• Examining the issues related to trying terrorist detainees in civilian courts.