COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM
Faiza Patel and Meghan Koushik
Brennan Center for Justice
at New York University School of Law
© 2017. Tis paper is covered by the Creative Commons “Attribution-No Derivs-NonCommercial” license (see http://creativecommons.org). It may be reproduced in its entirety as long as the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law is credited, a link to the Center’s web pages is provided, and no charge is imposed. Te paper may not be reproduced in part or in altered form, or if a fee is charged, without the Center’s permission. Please let the Center know if you reprint.
ABOUT THE BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE
Te Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law is a nonpartisan law and policy institute that seeks to improve our systems of democracy and justice. We work to hold our political institutions and laws accountable to the twin American ideals of democracy and equal justice for all. Te Center’s work ranges from voting rights to campaign finance reform, from ending mass incarceration to preserving Constitutional protection in the fight against terrorism. Part think tank, part advocacy group, part cutting-edge communications hub, we start with rigorous research. We craft innovative policies. And we fight for them — in Congress and the states, the courts, and in the court of public opinion.
ABOUT THE BRENNAN CENTER’S LIBERTY AND NATIONAL SECURITY PROGRAM
Te Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program works to advance effective national security policies that respect constitutional values and the rule of law, using innovative policy recommendations, litigation, and public advocacy. Te program focuses on reining in excessive government secrecy; ensuring that counterterrorism authorities are narrowly targeted to the terrorist threat; and securing adequate oversight and accountability mechanisms.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Faiza Patel
serves as co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center, focusing on national security and civil liberties issues affecting Muslims in the United States. She has testified before Congress opposing the dragnet surveillance of Muslims, organized advocacy efforts against state laws designed to incite fear of Islam, and developed legislation creating an independent Inspector General for the NYPD. She has authored or co-authored five reports:
Overseas Surveillance in an Interconnected World,
What Went Wrong with the FISA Court,
Foreign Law Bans, A Proposal for an NYPD Inspector General,
and
Rethinking Radicalization.
She is a frequent commentator for publications such as
Te
New York imes, Te Washington Post, Te Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles imes, Te Guardian,
and
USA oday
and is a member of the Board of Editors of the legal blog,
Just Security.
Before coming to the Brennan Center, Ms. Patel worked as a senior policy officer at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in Te Hague, and clerked for Judge Sidhwa at the International Criminal ribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Born and raised in Pakistan, Ms. Patel is a graduate of Harvard College and the NYU School of Law.
Meghan Koushik
was a Research and Program Associate in the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice between 2014 and 2016. At the Brennan Center, her work focused on surveillance, religious and racial profiling, and civil liberties issues impacting MASA communities in the United States. Prior to joining the Center, Meghan was a Fulbright scholar in urkey, where her research focused on the lack of legal protections for LGB-identified asylum seekers. Meghan was a Davis United World College Scholar at Brown University, and graduated with honors in Middle Eastern Studies and International Relations. She is currently a JD candidate at Stanford Law School.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Te authors would like to express their deep gratitude to the Brennan Center’s Michael German and Andrew Lindsay for their invaluable assistance in the drafting of this report and to Michael Price for coordinating the freedom of information litigation which uncovered many important documents referenced in the report. Tey would also like to thank Naren Daniel, Liza Goitein, Raffe Jefferson, John Kowal, Rachel Levinson-Waldman, Jeanine Plant-Chirlin, Erica Posey, Jessica Katzen, and Michael Waldman for their input and support. In addition, the authors benefited greatly from conversations and correspondence with Seamus Hughes, Hina Shamsi, and Amrit Singh. Te Brennan Center gratefully acknowledges Te Bauman Foundation, CS Fund, Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and Security & Rights Collaborative, a Proteus Fund initiative for their generous support of the Liberty and National Security Program.