Fresh Out of NCTC Office, Matthew Olsen Speaks at Harvard Law School
Matthew Olsen, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, stopped by Harvard Law School last week to offer his perspective on the changing nature of the terrorist threat. After giving a brief primer on the origins and goals of ISIL, Olsen tackled thornier questions: what is the United States's strategy for dealing with ISIL and other emerging terrorist organizations---especially vis à vis boots on the ground---and what is its legal basis for action?
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Matthew Olsen, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, stopped by Harvard Law School last week to offer his perspective on the changing nature of the terrorist threat. After giving a brief primer on the origins and goals of ISIL, Olsen tackled thornier questions: what is the United States's strategy for dealing with ISIL and other emerging terrorist organizations---especially vis à vis boots on the ground---and what is its legal basis for action? Olsen says that he doesn't see the threat subsiding in less than three years, but that this is a fight that the United States wants to enable Syria and Iraq to handle themselves, not one where the United States should take the lead in terms of boots on the ground. As for the legal basis question, Olsen agrees with the President as to the 2001 AUMF, while acknowledging that it is not a slam dunk argument.
Jodie C. Liu formerly researched national security issues at the Brookings Institution as a Ford Foundation Law School Fellow and has worked at the Open Society Foundations in Budapest, Hungary. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2015 and summa cum laude from Columbia College in 2012, with honors in economics.
