David Kris and J. Douglas Wilson
The years since September 11, 2001, have witnessed a remarkable transformation in the law and practice of national security. Old assumptions have been questioned, new rules have been proposed, and evolving threats have demanded adjustments from our government and our citizenry alike. These changes have profoundly affected both the liberty and the security of all Americans.
Despite its significance, the law of national security can be inaccessible. Some of the governing rules are classified. Others, while publicly available, can be cryptic, especially when divorced from their historical, structural, and (often classified) operational contexts. And even after September 11th, there is relatively little national security litigation; indeed, some legal rules expressly limit such litigation. The tension between liberty and security, which is expressed through the substance of our national security law, may also limit debate about that law.
The authors of the recently published, National Security Investigations and Prosecutions (West), David Kris and Doug Wilson, are quite aware of those limits, having spent more than 15 months in close negotiations with the Executive Branch about whether they could publish their book. This extended period of review reflects, at least in part, the unprecedented nature of the task assumed: National Security Investigations and Prosecutions explains the law governing some of our nation's most sensitive and important intelligence activities. It benefits from the authors' combined 30 years of government service - in law enforcement and national security, in Washington and in the field, on the line and in political positions, for Republican and Democratic administrations, before and after September 11th. The result is a legal treatise that explains matters in context, but without disclosing any classified or otherwise confidential information.
David Kris is a graduate of Haverford College and Harvard Law School. After clerking for Judge Stephen S. Trott of the Ninth Circuit, he joined the Department of Justice through its Honors Program. He worked as a prosecutor for eight years, from 1992 to 2000, conducting several trials and arguing appeals across the country. From 2000 to 2003, he was Associate Deputy Attorney General. In that role, his unclassified responsibilities included supervising the government's use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), representing the Justice Department at the National Security Council and in other inter-agency settings, briefing and testifying before Congress, and assisting the Attorney General in conducting oversight of the U.S. Intelligence Community. Mr. Kris received numerous awards at the Department of Justice, including the Attorney General's Award for Exceptional Service from Attorney General Janet Reno and from Attorney General John Ashcroft. Since 2003, he has been employed in the private sector and continues to write, teach, and speak about national security law.
J. Douglas Wilson is a graduate of Swarthmore College and Washington University Law School in St. Louis. Following a clerkship with Judge Dolores K. Sloviter of the Third Circuit, he joined the Appellate Section of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice. In 1999, he became Appellate Chief in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California. He also served as Chief of the Criminal Division in that office. Between 2002 and 2004, he was Special Assistant to the Counsel for Intelligence Policy in the Department's Office of Intelligence Policy and Review. In 2005 and 2006, he was assigned to the Enron Task Force for the trial of Jeffrey Skilling and Ken Lay. Mr. Wilson has received the Attorney General's Award for Exceptional Service and Distinguished Service, as well as numerous other Department of Justice Awards. He is currently an Assistant United States Attorney in San Francisco.
Featured Authors' Title