home > about cfr > leadership and staff > ashley s. deeks
International Affairs Fellow, 2007-2008
Ashley Deeks served as an attorney-adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State. She worked on issues related to the law of armed conflict, including detention, the U.S. relationship with the International Committee of the Red Cross, conventional weapons, and the legal framework for the conflict with al-Qaeda. She also handled intelligence issues. In previous positions at the State Department, Ms. Deeks advised on international law enforcement, extradition, and diplomatic property questions. While in the Legal Adviser's Office, she has helped negotiate treaties on anti-corruption measures, extradition, counter-narcotics operations, and the law of war. From May to December 2005, she served as the embassy legal adviser at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, during Iraq's constitutional negotiations, constitutional referendum, and transition to the current government. She has written several articles on the Iraqi constitution, and has served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law Center, where she taught classes on international organizations. Ms. Deeks received her BA in art history from Williams College and her JD from the University of Chicago Law School, where she served on the editorial board of the Law Review. After graduating from law school, she clerked for Judge Edward Becker on the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is undertaking her fellowship tenure at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
October 8, 2009
Academic Module
This academic module features teaching notes by author Ashley S. Deeks for the Council Special Report Avoiding Transfers to Torture, along with additional resources to supplement the text. In this report, Ms. Deeks addresses the dilemma that occurs when the United States obtains assurances that released detainees will not be tortured by their home countries upon return, guarantees that are an important tool for dealing with dangerous suspects.
See more in Defense/Homeland Security, Defense Strategy, National Security and Defense, Wars and Warfare, Democracy and Human Rights, International Law, Terrorism, Terrorism and the Law
2009
Must Read
Ashley S. Deeks examines international law regarding administrative detention in non-international armed conflicts.
See more in International Law, Terrorism
February 19, 2009
Academic Module
These teaching notes, by author Ashley S. Deeks, feature discussion questions and additional projects for the Council Special Report Avoiding Transfers to Torture. In this report, Ms. Deeks addresses the dilemma that occurs when the United States obtains assurances that released detainees will not be tortured by their home countries upon return. She concludes that despite problems associated with their use, assurances are an important tool for dealing with dangerous suspects.
July 17, 2008
Transcript
A report that looks at how the USG handles situations in which it has a foreign national in its custody who is interested in transferring, like who it fears may be mistreated if transferred, either home or to a third country.
See more in United States, Afghanistan, Iraq, Human Rights, International Law
June 2008
Council Special Report No. 35
Council Special Report
This report analyzes the debate over U.S. use of assurances against torture, explaining the contexts in which they are used, how they can be conveyed, and what they can contain, and recommends a number of ways to respond to criticism so that the United States can continue using assurances.
See more in United States, Terrorism and the Law
January 7, 2008
Op-Ed
Defense News
Ashley Deeks explains why Congress should pass a bill that would give government more power to prosecute PSCs.
See more in Iraq, Wars and Warfare, International Crime
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