Constitution Day 2015

 

Too Many Secrets? Transparency and Accountability in the Post-9/11 National Security State

 

 Co-hosted by the Georgetown Center on National Security and the Law

James Risen to be Honored with Constitutional Commentary Award, followed by Panel Discussion

For Constitution Day 2015, please join The Constitution Project as it presents its annual Constitutional Commentary Award to James Risen for his 2014 book, Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War, and his body of work reporting on the post-9/11 national security state.  In his book, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter offers a disturbing account of the lack of government transparency and accountability in the post 9/11-era.  Risen reports that America has spent an estimated four trillion dollars on the war on terror, much of it going to a secretive “homeland security – industrial complex” of private intelligence contractors.  Because most of the work – and the amount of money spent on it – is classified, there is very little public debate about the massive sums the taxpayers are paying out for these programs, and very little oversight on their effectiveness.

Following the award presentation, join us for a panel discussion on some of the unique concerns Risen and others have raised, including:

• How can we achieve greater transparency and accountability in the seemingly never ending war on terrorism?
• What is the appropriate response for Congress and inspectors general in overseeing spending on counterterrorism program?
• Are the trillions of dollars we are spending making us proportionately safer?
• What risks, legal and otherwise, do journalists face in covering national security issues?

 

The Constitution Project thanks John Marshall Bank and James Madison’s Montpelier for their generous support of Constitution Day 2015