European University Institute Library

Speaking the law, the Obama administration's addresses on national security law, Kenneth Anderson and Benjamin Wittes

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

index present

non fiction

Speaking the law

bibliography

889165536

Kenneth Anderson and Benjamin Wittes

the Obama administration's addresses on national security law

The authors offer a detailed examination of the speeches of the Obama administration on national security legal issues. They lay out a broad array of legal and policy positions regarding a large number of principles currently contested at both the domestic and international levels. The book describes what the Obama administration has said about the legal framework in which it is operating with respect to such questions as the nature of the war on terrorism, the use of drones and targeted killings, detention, trial by military commission and in federal courts, and interrogation. The authors analyze this framework, examining the stresses on it and asking where the administration got matters right and where they were wrong. They conclude with suggestions for certain reforms to the framework for the administration and Congress to consider. The book includes appendices with the texts of addresses and remarks by President Obama and administration officials on national security

1. An overview of the Obama administration's canonical speeches of the first term -- 2. The good, the bad, and the underdeveloped -- 3. The president's NDU speech and the pivot from the first term to the second -- 4. The speeches in interaction with other branches of government -- 5. The framework and its discontents -- Conclusion