For Immediate Release: May 24, 2011

Washington, D.C.—Today, Human Rights First, in cooperation with Rep. Jan Schakowsky, the Breakthrough Institute, and Third Way, hosted a briefing for Congressional staff to present the findings from a new report by the Breakthrough Institute entitled: “Counterterrorism since 9/11: Evaluating the efficacy of controversial tactics”. Panelists from the various organizations examined the evidence for and against current U.S. counterterrorism policies and addressed their effectiveness in the current landscape of national security policy.

The report comes at a critical time with the House of Representatives considering National Defense Authorization Act this week. This bill contains several provisions that keep the President from using all the tools that are constitutionally available to him to counter the threat of terrorism. Human Rights First’s Raha Wala added, “Several provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act seek to permanently institutionalize many of the more controversial policies of the Bush Administration.”

Beyond that, the new authorization for military force contained in this legislation would give President Obama and any future U.S. President unfettered power to wage endless war with an undefined enemy, even U.S. citizens.

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