The National Security Court System

In the last few years, military courts, military commissions, Gitmo, and 'Hamdan' have become stock terms on the front pages of America's leading newspapers. But how much do we really know about the larger system they function in? Does it work well, or is it a disaster? Glenn Sulmasy, probably the nation's leading expert on the topic of military commissions and national security courts, explains how the system originated, how it operates, and why it is beset by so many problems and so much controversy. He begins by charting the court system's historical trajectory up to the current predicament. The recent Boumediene v. Bush decision, which tossed aside the dysfunctional national court system envisioned by the Bush administration and upheld the right of habeas corpus for detainees, promises to throw national security law into chaos, and will also probably lead to the closing of Guantanamo. Arguing that there needs to sensible approach to the global war on terror's unique set of prisoners, Sulmasy closes with a reasonable "third way" solution that tacks between doubling down and shuttering the court system. He instead advocates creating a separate standing judicial system that allows for habeas corpus appeals and which focuses exclusively on existing war-on-terror cases as well the inevitable cases that will arise in coming years. Authoritative, clear, and tightly argued, this book will be the definitive work on the subject.