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Lawfare Daily: The Dangers of Deploying the Military on U.S. Soil

Scott R. Anderson, Alex Tausanovitch, Joseph Nunn, Laura A. Dickinson, Chris Mirasola, Mark Nevitt, Elaine McCusker, Lindsay P. Cohn, Jen Patja
Wednesday, November 6, 2024, 8:00 AM
Discussing Lawfare and Protect Democracy's recent series on domestic deployment.

Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
Brookings

For today’s special episode, Lawfare General Counsel and Senior Editor Scott R. Anderson held a series of conversations with contributors to a special series of articles on “The Dangers of Deploying the Military on U.S. Soil” that Lawfare recently published on its website, in coordination with our friends at Protect Democracy.

Participants include: Alex Tausanovitch, Policy Advocate at Protect Democracy; Laura Dickinson, a Professor at George Washington University Law School; Joseph Nunn, Counsel in the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center; Chris Mirasola, an Assistant Professor at the University of Houston Law Center; Mark Nevitt, a Professor at Emory University School of Law; Elaine McCusker, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; and Lindsay P. Cohn, a Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College. 

Together, they discussed how and why domestic deployments are being used, the complex set of legal authorities allowing presidents and governors to do so, and what the consequences might be, both for U.S. national security and for U.S. civil-military relations more generally.

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Scott R. Anderson is a fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and a Senior Fellow in the National Security Law Program at Columbia Law School. He previously served as an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State and as the legal advisor for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.
Alex Tausanovitch is a policy advocate at Protect Democracy, where he does research, writing and advocacy focused on strengthening democratic institutions. His work has been cited in media outlets including the New York Times, the Washington Post, NBC News, the Guardian, NPR, and others. Alex is a graduate of American University and Yale Law School, and previously served as a government attorney and as a senior fellow at a DC think tank.
Joseph Nunn is counsel in the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program. He focuses on issues surrounding the domestic activities of the U.S. military, including martial law and the Insurrection Act.
Laura A. Dickinson is the Lyle T. Alverson Professor of Law at The George Washington University Law School. Her work focuses on national security, human rights, the law of armed conflict, and foreign affairs privatization.
Chris Mirasola is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Houston Law Center. Previously, he was a Climenko Fellow and lecturer on law at Harvard Law School and an attorney-advisor at the Department of Defense Office of General Counsel.
Mark Nevitt is an Associate Professor of Law at the Emory University School of Law. Before joining Emory University, Nevitt served as an Associate Professor of Law at the Syracuse University College of Law and the Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Law at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. From 2017-2019 Nevitt served as the Sharswood Fellow, Lecturer-in-Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he taught climate change law and policy, and a seminar on national security law and society. Nevitt recently completed grant-funded research via the Kleinman Center at the University of Pennsylvania addressing the legal issues associated with climate adaptation and managed retreat. Before academia, Nevitt served as both a tactical jet aviator and attorney (JAG) in the United States Navy, serving in the rank of commander.
Elaine McCusker is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where she focuses on defense strategy, budget, and innovation; the US military; and national security. Before joining AEI, McCusker served as deputy and then acting under secretary of defense (comptroller) from August 2017 until June 2020.
Jen Patja is the editor and producer of the Lawfare Podcast and Rational Security. She currently serves as the Co-Executive Director of Virginia Civics, a nonprofit organization that empowers the next generation of leaders in Virginia by promoting constitutional literacy, critical thinking, and civic engagement. She is the former Deputy Director of the Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier and has been a freelance editor for over 20 years.