Power Wars: Inside Obama’s Post-9/11 Presidency Book Forum

On Tuesday, January 5, at noon, we’re hosting a book forum on Charlie Savage’s Power Wars, the most comprehensive account to date of how and why the Obama administration continued—and even expanded—most of the Bush-era War on Terror programs. The featured commentator is Professor Michael Glennon, whose 2014 book National Security and Double Government warned of an “emergent autocracy” controlled by national security insiders; the Boston Globe summed up Glennon’s thesis rather starkly, as “Vote all you want. The secret government won’t change.” What explains the striking degree of policy continuity between the Bush and Obama administrations: pressure from the permanent bureaucracy, rational threat assessment, the demands of electoral politics—or a combination of all three? Come on by on Tuesday to explore that question with Savage and Glennon, and get a libertarian “free lunch.” You can register for the event here or at the bottom of this page. Hope to see you there!

Best,
Chris

The Cato Institute invites you to an event. View this email in your browser Upcoming Cato events that can be attended in person or watched online. Unless otherwise noted, events are held at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. Power Wars: Inside Obama’s Post-9/11 Presidency   Book Forum Tuesday, January 5, 2016 12:00PM - 1:30PM Featuring the author Charlie Savage, Washington Correspondent, New York Times; with comments by Michael Glennon, Professor of International Law, Fletcher School, Tufts University; Author, National Security and Double Government. Moderated by Gene Healy, Vice President, Cato Institute. “We’ve paid a heavy price for having a president whose priority is expanding his own power,” then-senator Barack Obama proclaimed on the campaign trail in 2007. As president, he promised, “I’ll turn the page on the imperial presidency.” And yet, as Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Charlie Savage documents in his new book Power Wars, as president, Obama has launched more than seven times as many drone strikes as his predecessor, including the remote-control execution of an American citizen. He’s continued and expanded dragnet domestic surveillance programs based on a secret interpretation of the PATRIOT Act and launched two wars without authorization from Congress. Much has changed in the Obama era, but the imperial presidency endures and thrives. Based on interviews with more than 150 current and former government officials, Savage’s Power Wars stands as the most comprehensive account yet of the internal deliberations within the Obama administration. Please join us for a lively and timely discussion of the politics and law of presidential power.