An important issue emerging from the September 11th terrorist attacks on American soil has been whether such actions should be identified as war or as crimes. Recently, Carnegie Corporation held a forum on Homeland Security that explored the impact either designation would have on American civil liberties.

Giving the keynote address was Ashton B. Carter, former Under Secretary of Defense and currently on the faculty of the John F. Kennedy School of Government and co-director, with former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry, of the Harvard-Stanford Preventive Defense Project.

Other speakers included Senator Gary Hart, co-chair of the former U.S. Commission on National Security for the 21st Century, which recommended the creation of a homeland security agency; Christopher Edley, Jr., professor of law and co-director of the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University; and Robert F. Turner, professor of international law and foreign policy and co-founder of the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia. Moderating the discussion was WNYC Radio host Brian Lehrer.

"The notion of 'homeland security' opens up a number of challenges for our country as the question of national security takes on domestic and international implications," said Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York who hosted the forum. "For a question on the national agenda of such complex, important and inter-disciplinary dimensions, we believe that leaders in many fields need to debate the issues and understand the policies that are being written for this post-September 11th world."

Also participating in the forum were foundation leaders, policymakers and academics who are actively engaged with security and civil liberty issues.

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