American Civil Liberties Union

The ACLU's National Security Project (NSP) advocates for national security policies that are consistent with the Constitution, the rule of law, and fundamental human rights. The Project litigates cases relating to detention, torture, discrimination, surveillance, censorship, and secrecy. Originally created as an informal working group after the September 2001 attacks, the National Security Project is now at the forefront of virtually every major legal battle relating to national security, civil liberties, and human rights.

Contact us: nspintake[a]aclu.org

STAFF

Jameel Jaffer — Director
Jameel Jaffer is the Director of the ACLU's National Security Project. He has litigated cases concerning the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the FBI's use of “national security letters,” the government's practice of ideological exclusion, and the abuse and torture of prisoners held at Guantánamo and other U.S. detention centers overseas. He has testified before Congress about issues relating to government surveillance and, since 2004, he has served as a human rights monitor for the military commissions at Guantánamo. His book, Administration of Torture (co-authored with Open Society Justice Institute attorney Amrit Singh), was published by Columbia University Press in 2007. Prior to joining the staff of the ACLU, he served as law clerk to Hon. Amalya L. Kearse, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin, Chief Justice of Canada. He is a graduate of Williams College, Cambridge University, and Harvard Law School.

Nusrat Choudhury — Staff Attorney
Nusrat Choudhury is a Staff Attorney in the ACLU's National Security Project. Her work has focused on combating discrimination against marginalized groups, including racial minorities, women, and children in the United States and abroad. Ms. Choudhury received her BA from Columbia University, and is a graduate of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Yale Law School. Prior to joining NSP, Ms. Choudhury worked as a Karpatkin Fellow in the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program, and served as a clerk for Judge Barrington D. Parker in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and for Judge Denise Cote in the Southern District of New York.

Melissa Goodman — Staff Attorney
Melissa Goodman is a Staff Attorney in the ACLU's National Security Project. She has litigated cases concerning the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the FBI and the Defense Department's use of “national security letters,” the government's practice of ideological exclusion, and the CIA's “extraordinary rendition” program. Ms. Goodman is a graduate of New York University College of Arts and Science and New York University Law School. Prior to working at the ACLU, Ms. Goodman served as law clerk to the Hon. Frederic Block, United States District Court for the Eastern District.

Jon Hafetz — Staff Attorney
Jonathan Hafetz is a Staff Attorney in the ACLU's National Security Project. Mr. Hafetz has helped coordinate the Guantánamo detainee habeas corpus litigation since its earliest stages. He served as counsel in Al-Marri v. Pucciarelli, a landmark case challenging the indefinite military detention of a lawful resident alien arrested in the United States. He also served as co-counsel in Munaf v. Geren and Omar v. Geren, cases involving U.S. citizens detained in Iraq that were decided by the Supreme Court in 2008. Mr. Hafetz previously served as Litigation Director for the Liberty and National Security Project of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. He also formerly served as a Gibbons Fellow in Public Interest and Constitutional Law at Gibbons, P.C., and as a law clerk to the Hon. Jed S. Rakoff, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and Sandra L. Lynch, U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Denny LeBoeuf — Staff Attorney / Director of the John Adams Project
Denny LeBoeuf is a Staff Attorney in the ACLU's National Security Project and the Director of the ACLU's John Adams Project, assisting in the defense of the capitally charged Guantánamo detainees. Ms. LeBoeuf is a longtime capital defender, particularly in cases where mental health, race and poverty increase the traumatic burden carried by many clients. She has represented persons facing death at trial and in post-conviction in state and federal courts, and she teaches and consults with capital defense teams nationally. She was the founding Director of the Capital Post-Conviction Project in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was a member of the 2003 Committee that formulated the ABA Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases, and was Chair of the post-Katrina Orleans Parish Public Defenders Board 2006-2007. She holds a J.D. from Tulane University and a B.A. from Hunter College.

Larry Schwartztol — Staff Attorney
Larry Schwartztol is a Staff Attorney in the ACLU's National Security Project. His litigation docket focuses on government surveillance policies and the maintenance of government watchlists. Before joining NSP, Mr. Schwartztol worked in the ACLU's Racial Justice Program, where he litigated school equity cases. He graduated from Yale Law School and received his B.A. from the University of Chicago. Prior to working at the ACLU, Mr. Schwartztol was a Liman Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and served as a law clerk to Hon. Harry T. Edwards on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Ben Wizner — Staff Attorney
Ben Wizner is a Staff Attorney in the ACLU's National Security Project. He has been involved in the litigation of cases concerning post-9/11 civil liberties violations, including two challenge s to the CIA's extraordinary rendition program, legal challenges aimed at exposing FBI and Pentagon surveillance of non-violent protestors, and suits challenging the discriminatory removal of Arab and South Asian men from commercial flights and other public venues. He has traveled to Guantánamo Bay to observe and report on Military Commission trials. Mr. Wizner is a graduate of Harvard College and New York University School of Law. Prior to working at the ACLU, he served as a law clerk to the Hon. Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Alexander Abdo — Fellow
Alexander Abdo is a Fellow in the ACLU's National Security Project. He has been involved in the litigation of cases concerning the Patriot Act, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and the treatment of detainees in Guantánamo Bay, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Navy brig in South Carolina. Mr. Abdo is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School. Prior to working at the ACLU, he served as a law clerk to the Hon. Barbara M.G. Lynn, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas, and to the Hon. Rosemary Barkett, United States Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Jonathan Manes - Fellow
Jonathan Manes is a fellow in the ACLU's National Security Project. He has been involved in the litigation of cases concerning detainees held at Guantánamo Bay and Bagram, Afghanistan. He has also worked on several Freedom of Information Act cases relating to the torture, abuse, and indefinite detention of individuals in U.S. custody. Mr. Manes is a graduate of Columbia University, the London School of Economics, and the Yale Law School. Prior to working at the ACLU, he served as a law clerk to Justice Morris J. Fish of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Ateqah Khaki — Advocacy Coordinator
Ateqah Khaki is the Advocacy Coordinator for the ACLU's National Security Project. Prior to joining the ACLU, Ms. Khaki worked as a publicist for Riptide Communications, a human rights and social justice-focused public relations firm that works with non-profit organizations. She has worked on a variety of issues, including campaigns related to corporate accountability, environmental justice, peace and justice work, poverty awareness, and the growing movement to hold the United States accountable to international human rights standards. She is a 2005 graduate of Whitman College.

Larry Seims — Writer/Researcher
Larry Siems is a writer and human rights advocate and the lead writer of thetorturereport.org. He has directed the Freedom to Write and International Programs at PEN American Center for the last nine years, and prior to that ran the Freedom to Write Program at PEN USA West in Los Angeles. A poet and nonfiction writer, he has written extensively about human rights, immigration, and cross cultural issues, particularly along the U.S.-Mexico border. His publications include Between the Lines: Letters Letters Between Undocumented Mexican and Latin American Immigrants and Their Families and Friends. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Columbia University.

Leila Tabbaa — Paralegal
Leila Tabbaa is a Paralegal in the ACLU's National Security Project. She is a 2007 graduate of Wesleyan University.

Ben Smyser — Legal Assistant
Ben Smyser is a Legal Assistant in the ACLU’s National Security Project. He is a 2008 graduate of Wesleyan University.

Hallie Pope — Legal Assistant
Hallie Pope is a Legal Assistant in the ACLU’s National Security Project. She is a 2009 graduate of Brown University.