NSN 2016 Update: Return to the Dark Side December 4, 2015 In recent days, conservative candidates for president have revived the rhetoric of the immediate post 9-11 period and have seemed almost eager to play into the hands of ISIS, campaigning on policies that reinforce ISIS’s claims that the West is engaged in religiously-motivated warfare against all Muslims. Ben Carson, Chris Christie, and Donald Trump all want to bring back waterboarding. While these candidates agree that the United States should start torturing people again, none of them have provided any reason to believe that torture gathers information that could not be gathered by lawful methods. There are, however, strong reasons not to bring back waterboarding: not only is it torture, and therefore a war crime,… Read More ›

Mainstreaming Hate: The Far-Right Fringe Origins of Islamophobic and Anti-Refugee Politics Policy Brief by J. Dana Stuster and Samuel Davidoff-Gore December 2015 To read the full report, click here. The National Security Network (NSN) is pleased to release a new policy brief, Mainstreaming Hate: The Far-Right Fringe Origins of Islamophobic and Anti-Refugee Politics. Since the November 13 terrorist attack in Paris, politicians have seized on reports of participation in the attacks by alleged Syrian refugees to impugn U.S. efforts to resettle 10,000 refugees displaced by the Islamic State and the violence of the Syrian civil war – a relatively small number of refugees in relation to the overall number of people displaced from Syria and the burden on other nations accepting Syrian refugees. These political… Read More ›

Statement by NSN on the Passing of Samuel R. Berger December 2, 2015 Today, the boards and staff of the National Security Network are saddened by the loss of Sandy Berger, our Advisory Board Chair who passed away after a battle with cancer. Sandy was a committed public servant who devoted his career to America’s national security. As Chair of NSN’s Advisory Board, Sandy was instrumental in shaping the organization’s message of progressive internationalism, which promoted engagement with the world in a manner consistent with America’s values. NSN Executive Director John Bradshaw said:  “Sandy was an engaged and hands-on Advisory Board Chair who cared deeply about our work and who brought many national security experts who admired him and his work into the organization’s network. … Read More ›