The National Security Law Podcast: Back in Steve’s Office

Robert Chesney, Steve Vladeck
Friday, May 21, 2021, 4:26 PM

Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
Brookings

Recording episode 202 was something of a milestone for us, because we met in Steve’s office for an in-person recording for the first time since Before. Wow! We’re grateful to be back in the “studio,” and we found it was a much-more fun experience for us. See if you can detect the difference as we talk about

  1. A GTMO military commission ruling construing the Military Commissions Act prohibition on the admissibility of information derived from torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment to apply only as to offers of evidence in the trial setting, not to pre-trial motion practice (at least where the statement in question is not offered for the truth of the matter asserted).
  2. The judicial carousel at the mil coms prepares to spin again.
  3. The sentence-reduction agreement in the Majid Khan case, which will (as that label suggests!) reduce his sentence in exchange for Khan giving up on his effort to secure testimony regarding his treatment while in CIA custody.
  4. Some brief comments on the Gaza situation.
  5. Noting that Matt Olsen will be nominated to replace John Demers as the head of DOJ’s National Security Division, continuing the tradition of excellent leadership in that office.

We also have all sorts of utterly frivolous thoughts about Top Gun and the Top Gun sequel, as well as Marvel’s plan for a Star Lord-focused scripted podcast series set in a dystopian non-cinematic universe timeline. Can’t wait!


Robert (Bobby) Chesney is the Dean of the University of Texas School of Law, where he also holds the James A. Baker III Chair in the Rule of Law and World Affairs at UT. He is known internationally for his scholarship relating both to cybersecurity and national security. He is a co-founder of Lawfare, the nation’s leading online source for analysis of national security legal issues, and he co-hosts the popular show The National Security Law Podcast.
Steve Vladeck is a professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law. A 2004 graduate of Yale Law School, Steve clerked for Judge Marsha Berzon on the Ninth Circuit and Judge Rosemary Barkett on the Eleventh Circuit. In addition to serving as a senior editor of the Journal of National Security Law & Policy, Steve is also the co-editor of Aspen Publishers’ leading National Security Law and Counterterrorism Law casebooks.

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