The South Asian Bar Association of Washington, D.C. and the South Asian Law Students Association at Georgetown University Law Center cordially invite you to SABA-DC’s
2010 Civil & Human Rights Symposium
“Homegrown” Terrorism, Radicalization, and National Security:
Embracing Security While Sacrificing Liberty?
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Georgetown University Law Center
Gewirz 12
600 New Jersey Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20001
In the years since September 11, 2001, media reports claim that so called “homegrown” terrorism has increased in the U.S. A recently released 9/11 Commission Report indicates that U.S. authorities failed to realize that a group of Somali-American youths traveling from Minnesota to Mogadishu in 2008 to join extremists was not an isolated issue. Instead, the movement was one among several instances of a broader, more diverse threat that has surfaced across the country. How serious a threat is homegrown terrorism in the U.S.? How has the U.S. government reacted to the prospect of homegrown terrorists? What, if any, civil liberties have been traded away to combat this alleged threat?
Please join the South Asian Bar Association of Washington, D.C. (“SABA-DC”) and the South Asian Law Students Association at the Georgetown University Law Center for the fourth annual SABA-DC Civil & Human Rights Symposium. The panelists, all of whom have worked on these issues, will discuss the nuts and bolts of investigating and prosecuting “homegrown” terrorists, as well as the effects the Government’s efforts have had on the civil and human rights of the South Asian community in the U.S.
The following are our esteemed Panelists:
Michael German, Esq. – Mike German is a Policy Counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington Legislative Office, where he develops policy positions and pro-active strategies on pending legislation and executive branch actions concerning national security and open government programs, including domestic surveillance, data mining, privacy, whistleblower protection, and intelligence and law enforcement oversight. Prior to joining the ACLU, Mr. German served sixteen-years as a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where he specialized in domestic terrorism and covert operations. Mr. German served as an adjunct professor for Law Enforcement and Terrorism at the National Defense University and is a Senior Fellow with GlobalSecurity.org. Mr. German’s first book, “Thinking Like a Terrorist,” was published in January 2007. He has a B.A. in Philosophy from Wake Forest University and a J.D. from Northwestern University Law School.
David H. Laufman, Esq. – David Laufman is a Trial Attorney with the Fraud Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he investigates and prosecutes procurement fraud and official corruption related to U.S. Government economic reconstruction assistance to Iraq. Mr. Laufman previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, where he prosecuted major terrorism and national security cases, including the Abu Ali case, involving an American citizen who provided material support to an al-Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia, and the "Virginia Jihad" case, involving a group of men from the Washington, DC area who provided material support to the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba and committed other related offenses, including violations of the Neutrality Act. Prior to serving as an AUSA, Mr. Laufman served as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice, where he assisted in coordinating the Department’s responses to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Michael Mullaney, Esq. – Michael Mullaney is the Chief of the Counterterrorism Section at the Department of Justice. Michael began his career as a Special Agent in the Treasury Department’s IRS-Criminal Investigation Division where he was initially assigned to East St. Louis, Illinois. He also spent time in Kansas City before being transferred to Miami in 1980 where he was assigned to "Operation Greenback," the nation’s first multi-agency task force that targeted money laundering. In Miami, he spent 9 years exclusively investigating international money laundering schemes and organizations, including two years as an undercover agent. After graduating cum laude from the University of Miami’s night law program in 1988, he joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami in 1989. For ten years he primarily investigated and prosecuted drug and money laundering crimes. In 2000, he was named the Chief of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section. He resigned that position in 2003 to go to Iraq with one of the first civilian contingents to enter the country to work with the Iraqi judicial system. In November 2003, he was named the Principal Deputy Chief of the Department of Justice’s Counterterrorism Section and now as the permanent Chief.
Peter R. Neumann, Ph.D. – Peter Neumann is serving a one-year term as a Visiting Fellow at the Georgetown University Center for Peace and Security Studies. Dr. Neumann is the Director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence at King’s College London. Prior to this appointment, he was Director of the Centre for Defence Studies (2005-2007) at King’s College London, and Content Director of the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security (2004-2005) organized by the Club de Madrid, the association of former Presidents and Prime Ministers. Dr. Neumann has authored numerous articles on terrorism and radicalization in journals like Survival, Foreign Affairs, Orbis, and Terrorism and Political Violence. Opinion pieces and shorter analysis have appeared in the New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, Prospect and other magazines and newspapers. He is currently authoring a book titled Al Qaeda’s New Soldiers: Homegrown Terrorism in the West. He frequently appears on radio and television as an expert on terrorism and political violence. Dr. Neumann is a senior lecturer in War Studies at King’s College London and teaches classes on terrorism, insurgency, radicalization, and intelligence. He is Co-Director of the newly created Master’s Programme in Terrorism, Security and Society. Dr. Neumann is a member of the Club de Madrid’s expert advisory council, as well as of the editorial boards of the journals Studies in Conflict and Terrorism and Democracy and Security. He is an Affiliate of the European Commission’s European Network of Experts on Radicalisation, serves as a member of the German Federal Criminal Office’s (BKA) European Expert Network on Terrorism Issues, and is associated with several other institutions and think-tanks.
Habib F. Ilahi, Esq. (Moderator) – Habib Ilahi is Counsel at Schertler & Onorato, LLP where his practice focuses on white-collar defense, government investigations, and securities litigation. He is the current president of SABA-DC. For more information about this event, please contact Habib at president@sabadc.org or at (202) 628-0469.
Robert Chesney's National Security Law Listserv Archive 