Luke Hartig
October 30th, 2017

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Luke Hartig, an alum of Boston University, is the former Senior Director of Counterterrorism for the National Security Council during the Obama administration. He is currently the Executive of the Network Science Initiative at the National Journal and a fellow at New America. He writes for the Just Security blog, and is a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations. As a former Presidential Management Fellow, he has held positions in the Department of Defense, Office of Management and Budget, and elsewhere in Government. He also volunteered for the Peace Corp.

In this episode, recorded at the Watergate, we use Mr. Hartig’s remarkable breadth of experience to understand Washington D.C. and its major institutions. Furthermore, we discuss his specialty, counterterrorism, focusing primarily on the most controversial element of the Obama counterterrorism legacy: drone strikes.

Issue Background

Since the episode was recorded the Trump administration has been rumored to be drafting a new guidance to replace President Obama’s Presidential Policy Guidance (PPG) from 2013. Here is Mr. Hartig’s analysis.

An article from Just Security which refutes some of Mr. Hartig’s claims above.

Other writing by Mr. Hartig

Can Trump Unravel Obama’s Rules of War?

Relevant reading from elsewhere

New York Times coverage of the Presidential Policy Guidance form 2013
New Yorker article on the decision to for US forces to kill or capture terrorist suspects
“The Drone Papers”, a series by The Intercept written on the basis of leaked Department of Defense documents. It covers everything from the internal decision making process to the intelligence upon which these decisions are based.


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Audio and content Copyright 2017, Boston University Common Thread Podcast