Clients in the NSA Lawsuit
Council on American-Islamic Relations
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Greenpeace
James Bamford
Larry Diamond
Christopher Hitchens
Tara McKelvey
Barnett Rubin
American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation
The American Civil Liberties Union ("ACLU") is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that engages in public education and lobbying about the constitutional principles of liberty and equality.
The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation employs lawyers who provide legal representation free of charge in cases involving civil liberties.
Since September 11, the core priority of the ACLU has been to stem the backlash against human rights and civil liberties in the name of national security.
Council on American-Islamic Relations
CAIR is a non-profit and non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to enhancing the general public's understanding of Islam, protecting civil liberties, empowering American Muslims and building coalitions that promote social justice and mutual understanding. CAIR is the largest Islamic civil liberties organization in the United States with more than 30 affiliated sister chapters throughout the United States and Canada representing the interests of over seven million American Muslims.
CAIR's Communications Department works in conjunction with local, national and international media outlets to ensure that an accurate portrayal of Islam and Muslims is presented to the general public. CAIR's daily news release service reaches individuals and international media outlets on a daily basis. Because of its communications work, CAIR has become a respected and credible source for journalists and other media professionals worldwide.
Read CAIR's announcement >>
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) is a non-profit organization comprised of 10,000 lawyers and 28,000 affiliate members representing every state. The NACDL was founded in 1958 to promote study and research in the field of criminal law; to disseminate and advance knowledge of the law in the area of criminal practice; and to encourage the integrity, independence and expertise of defense lawyers in criminal cases.
Joshua L. Dratel is a nationally recognized criminal defense lawyer in New York City, a member of NACDL's Board of Directors and Co-Chair of its Select Committee on Military Tribunals, and the co-editor of The Torture Papers: The Legal Road to Abu Ghraib. (Dratel's statement)
Nancy Hollander, a member and past president of NACDL, is a nationally recognized criminal defense lawyer in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (Hollander's statement)
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an advocacy organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., dedicated to combating the most serious threats to the planet's biodiversity and environment. Since 1971, Greenpeace has been at the forefront of environmental activism through non-violent protest, research, lobbying and public education. Greenpeace has approximately 250,000 members and seven offices in the U.S. Greenpeace is associated with international Greenpeace entities, which have a presence in 39 other countries and more than 2.5 million members. (Greenpeace's statement)
James Bamford
James Bamford is an award-winning and bestselling author and journalist. He is one of the world's leading experts on U.S. intelligence and the National Security Agency. Bamford is the author of A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies, Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency, and The Puzzle Palace: A Report on NSA, America's Most Secret Agency. He has written extensively on national security issues for a range of newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, and The Los Angeles Times Magazine. From 1989-1998, he was the Washington investigative producer for ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. In 2002, he was a distinguished visiting professor of National Security at the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley.
Bamford has testified before the Senate and House of Representatives as well as the European Parliament in Brussels and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He has also been a guest speaker at the Central Intelligence Agency's Senior Intelligence Fellows Program, the National Security Agency's National Cryptologic School, the Defense Intelligence Agency's Joint Military Intelligence College, the Pentagon's National Defense University and Air War College, and the Director of National Intelligence's National Counterintelligence Executive. (Bamford's statement)
Larry Diamond
Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and founding coeditor of the Journal of Democracy. He is also codirector of the International Forum for Democratic Studies of the National Endowment for Democracy. At Stanford University, he is professor by courtesy of political science and sociology and coordinates the democracy program of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. Professor Diamond has advised and lectured to the U.S. Agency for International Development, the World Bank, the United Nations, the State Department, and other governmental and nongovernmental agencies dealing with governance and development.
During the first three months of 2004, Professor Diamond served as a senior adviser on governance to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad. He is now lecturing and writing about the challenges of post-conflict state building in Iraq, and the challenges of developing and promoting democracy around the world, with a particular focus on the Middle East and Africa. During 20045, he was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations' Independent Task Force on U.S. Policy Toward Arab Reform.
Professor Diamond is the author of numerous books, including Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq. His recent edited books include Islam and Democracy in the Middle East and Assessing the Quality of Democracy. (Diamond's statement)
Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens is a reporter and author based in Washington, D.C. He is a prominent and controversial commentator who is vocal in his support for the military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of his articles focus on understanding the role and influence of Islamic fundamentalism in the region. He also probes the success of U. S. policy in assuaging the threat to security posed by Muslim terrorists harbored in the Middle East and West Asia. Hitchens has published articles Harpers, The Spectator, The Nation, New York Newsday and The Atlantic Monthly. He currently is a frequent contributor to Slate and Vanity Fair. Hitchens is also the best-selling author of several books including A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq, a collection of essays analyzing arguments for and against the war in Iraq. (Hitchens' statement)
Tara McKelvey
Tara McKelvey is a senior editor at The American Prospect and a contributing editor to Marie Claire. Her articles have also appeared in The Nation, USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times Book Review, and Washingtonian. She has written extensively about the Middle East, Iraqi detainees held in U.S. custody and women¹s issues in Iraq. McKelvey is the author of an upcoming book about U.S. legal efforts to fight torture and is editing an anthology about women and torture for Seal Press.
Barnett Rubin
Barnett Rubin is Director of Studies and Senior Fellow at the New York University Center on International Cooperation (CIC). The CIC promotes policy research and international consultations on multilateral responses to transnational problems. He has authored and edited numerous books and articles about Afghanistan, including The Fragmentation of Afghanistan and The Search for Peace in Afghanistan.
Rubin's work and research concerns conflict prevention and peace building in Afghanistan and the surrounding region. Rubin is regularly consulted as an expert on Afghanistan and often works in collaboration with Afghan officials on development and institution-building projects. Rubin is currently collaborating with Afghan government officials who are drafting the Afghan National Development Strategy.