The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for consideration of national security,military,and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House,it is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States,and composed of senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials.
John B. Bellinger III is an American lawyer who served as the Legal Adviser for the U.S. Department of State and the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration. He is now a partner at the Washington,D.C. law firm Arnold &Porter,and Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Morris Durham "Moe" Davis is an American retired U.S. Air Force colonel,attorney,educator,politician,and former administrative law judge.
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base,also referred to as Guantánamo,GTMO,and Gitmo,on the coast of Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. Of the roughly 780 people detained there since January 2002 when the military prison first opened after the September 11 attacks,733 have been transferred elsewhere,36 remain there,and 9 have died while in custody.
Daniel Fried is an American diplomat,who served as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs from 2005 to 2009 and United States ambassador to Poland from 1997 to 2000. He also served as special envoy for Guantanamo closure and co-ordinator for United States embargoes. Fried retired from the State Department in February 2017 after forty years of service.
Clifford Sloan is an attorney and American diplomat who served as Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure at the United States Department of State. Sloan is currently a Dean's Visiting Scholar at Georgetown University Law Center and retired partner for Skadden,Arps,Slate,Meagher &Flom LLP and Affiliates. Previously,Sloan was the publisher of Slate magazine.
Charles Douglas "Cully" Stimson is an American lawyer and government official. Stimson served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs from 2005 until his resignation on February 2,2007,following a controversy about his statements on legal representation for prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. Following his time in the George W. Bush administration,Stimson joined The Heritage Foundation,where he is currently a senior legal fellow and manager of the National Security Law Program. Earlier in his career,Stimson served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia and as Vice President for Private Equity Mergers &Acquisitions at Marsh &McLennan Companies.
Jeffrey D. "J.D." Gordon is an American communications and foreign policy adviser,who served as a Pentagon spokesman during the George W. Bush Administration and later a national security adviser to Donald Trump. Gordon is a retired United States Navy officer who was a senior adviser to numerous prominent Republican political figures. Gordon has also been a television commentator and columnist with various media outlets including One America News Network,Fox News,Sky News,The Daily Caller,USA Today,The Hill,The Washington Times and others. Gordon founded Protect America Today,a national security–themed Super PAC in February 2012.
Jennifer C. Daskal is a Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Tech,Law,Security Program at the Washington College of Law at American University. Her work focuses on terrorism,national security and criminal law. She previously served as senior counsel for Human Rights Watch,focusing on similar issues. She also worked in the Department of Justice during the Obama administration,which was seeking to prosecute terror suspects through the criminal justice system instead of through military tribunals.
Gregory Bestor Craig is an American lawyer and former White House Counsel,under President Barack Obama,from 2009 to 2010. A former attorney at the Washington,D.C. law firm of Williams &Connolly,Craig has represented numerous high-profile clients. Prior to becoming White House Counsel,he served as assistant to the President and special counsel in the White House of President Bill Clinton,where he directed the team defending Clinton against impeachment. Craig also served as a senior advisor to Senator Edward Kennedy and to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Phillip Eugene Carter is an American lawyer,writer,and former officer in the United States Army. Carter was a founding member of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America,and he also served as a principal of the Truman National Security Project. He was senior fellow and counsel at the Center for a New American Security,and director of the CNAS research program on the Military,Veterans &Society. Beginning September 2018,he served as the Director of the Personnel &Resources Program at the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center in Washington,D.C. Carter now works as senior director,corporate counsel for Salesforce,supporting the company’s public sector businesses,and teaches as an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center.
Covington &Burling LLP is an American multinational law firm. Headquartered in Washington,D.C.,the firm advises clients on transactional,litigation,regulatory,and public policy matters. In 2021,Vault.com ranked Covington &Burling as the #1 law firm in Washington,D.C. The firm has additional offices in Beijing,Brussels,Frankfurt,Dubai,Johannesburg,London,Los Angeles,New York,Palo Alto,San Francisco,Seoul,and Shanghai.
Benjamin Wittes is an American legal journalist and Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution,where he is the Research Director in Public Law,and Co-Director of the Harvard Law School–Brookings Project on Law and Security. He works principally on issues related to American law and national security. Along with Robert M. Chesney and Jack Goldsmith,Wittes cofounded the Lawfare Blog. Wittes is also a member of the Hoover Institution's Task Force on National Security and Law. Wittes is a frequent speaker on topics of detention,interrogation,and national security,before academic,government,policy,and military audiences.
Andrea J. Prasow is an American attorney and global human rights advocate. She leads The Freedom Initiative,a U.S.-based organization whose mission is "to bring international attention to the plight of political prisoners in the Middle East and advocate for their release." Prasow was appointed as The Freedom Initiative's executive director in November 2021.
Matthew Glen Olsen is an American prosecutor who has served as the Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division since 2021. He is the former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
Karl R. Thompson is an American lawyer and was the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel of the United States Department of Justice from 2014 until 20 January 2017;he served as the Acting Assistant Attorney General during that period.
Lisa Oudens Monaco is an American attorney,former federal prosecutor and national security official who has served as the 39th deputy attorney general of the United States since April 2021.
The Periodic Review Boards administrate a US "administrative procedure" for recommending whether certain individuals held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps,in Cuba are safe to release or transfer,or whether they should continue to be held without charge. The boards are authorized by and overseen by the Periodic Review Secretariat,which President Barack Obama set up with Executive Order 13567 on March 7,2011.
Rajesh "Raj" De is an American lawyer and former U.S. government official. He is now the managing partner for the Washington,D.C.,office of the law firm Mayer Brown. During the presidency of Barack Obama,he served in three significant government roles—as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy,as White House Staff Secretary,and finally as general counsel of the U.S. National Security Agency.
