Thomas Powers is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist known for his writings on intelligence, national security, and American history. He contributed to The Weekly Standard during 2003–2004, writing on civil liberties, due process, and detainee policy issues arising from the war on terror.
THE LEGAL LIMBO of the prisoners at Guantanamo is coming to an end. Spurred by the scandalous revelations from Abu Ghraib in late April and three Supreme Court decisions in late June, the administration is belatedly putting in place several layers of due process intended to ensure that the 585…
Political Philosophy and the God of Abraham
IN DECEMBER, the Bush administration suffered two legal setbacks in the war on terror. An opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit challenged the government's claim that it has the right to detain terror suspect Jose Padilla (the "dirty bomber") without giving him access to the…
WHAT'S THERE TO SAY about Attorney General John Ashcroft's 16-city speaking tour on the subject of the Patriot Act, which ended in New York two days before the second anniversary of September 11? For starters, the Bush administration continues to avoid addressing Americans' concerns about civil…
CIVIL LIBERTARIANS are in danger of debasing their cause through the partisan abuse of constitutional principle. A case in point is reaction to and distortion of the report of Department of Justice inspector general Glenn A. Fine, "The September 11 Detainees." Released June 4, the report is about…