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Terrorism and the U.S. Criminal Justice System
by Jeremy at 1:13 pm EST, Nov 8, 2003

My experience in Washington was in many ways very satisfying. I served in the Department during historic times ... I did some very interesting things ... But it is the work on the terrorism front that I found special.
Recently there has been a lot of controversy surrounding our counter-terrorism efforts; I would like to share with you some of my observations and beliefs about what we need to do in our fight against terrorism while preserving the Rule of Law.
... I was duty bound to zealously protect the United States ... The [Justice] Department's focus could no longer be on just investigation and prosecution; [we] also had to be concerned about prevention and disruption.

"At times, the price of truth is so high that a democratic society is not prepared to pay it."

The text of a speech by Larry Thompson, Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution, and former senior official at the Justice Department, with excerpts from a 1999 decision of the Israeli Supreme Court.

Terrorism and the U.S. Criminal Justice System
by Decius at 10:46 am EST, Nov 9, 2003

"At times, the price of truth is so high that a democratic society is not prepared to pay it."

I recommend this speech because I like it. I'll opine that there is often a very fine line between the Department of Justice and his Department of Federal Prosecutors. That Israeli decision was discussed in a way too wordy article in the October Atlantic Monthly. When coercion was authorized by the courts, it was envisioned that it would only be employed in limited situations. 12 years later it was employed in 2/3rds of the cases involving Palestinians. Rarely does one see a better example of a slippery slope in action.

I don't really see this as simply a matter of having to give up the truth. These kinds of methods easily cross the line from investigation to punishment. When investigation becomes punitive there can be no justice.