Countering Terrorism: Blurred Focus, Halting Steps

About the Speaker

Richard A. Posner is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. He is the author of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including Uncertain Shield: The U.S. Intelligence System in the Throes of Reform (2006) and Preventing Surprise Attacks: Intelligence Reform in the Wake of 9/11 (2005).

In this third book in a series on intelligence reform, Judge Richard A. Posner evaluates the measures that have been taken in the past two years to implement the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004, which decreed a wholesale reorganization of the intelligence system. Countering Terrorism also addresses broader issues in the struggle against terrorism, such as the failure of criminal law enforcement and the difficulty of devising criteria for allocating counterterrorist funds.

Moderator:

Stephen Holmes, faculty research advisor at the Center on Law and Security and the Walter E. Meyer Professor of Law at the New York University School of Law. His new book, The Matador’s Cape: America’s Reckless Response to the War on Terror, was published in the spring of 2007.