About US

 

 

Staff:

 

Director: Kate Martin

Kate Martin has been Director of the Center for National Security Studies, a non-profit human rights and civil liberties organization located in Washington, D.C, since 1992.  Previously, she served as litigation director for the Center when it was a joint project of the ACLU and the Fund for Peace.   From 1993 to 1999, Ms. Martin was also co-director of a project on Security Services in a Constitutional Democracy in 12 former communist countries in Europe.

Ms. Martin has taught Strategic Intelligence and Public Policy at Georgetown University Law School and also served as general counsel to the National Security Archive, a research library located at George Washington University from 1995 to 2001.

She has testified frequently before the United States Congress, including the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.  She has also litigated cases involving the entire range of national security and civil liberties issues, including serving as lead counsel in the lawsuit brought by more than 20 organizations challenging the secret arrests of 1200 people in the wake of September 11.  She participated in the drafting of the Johannesburg Principles on National Security and Freedom of Expression.

Among her publications are: ‘Enemy Combatants,’ the Constitution and the Administration’s ‘War on Terror’ with Joseph Onek, American Constitution Society,  August 2004;  Domestic Intelligence and Civil Liberties,  SAIS Review of International Affairs, (Winter-Spring 2004);  Secret Arrests and Preventive Detention, in Lost Liberties, ed. Brown (New Press 2003); Intelligence, Terrorism and Civil Liberties, Human Rights, (Winter 2002); Civil Liberties and National Security on the Internet, in The Information Age Anthology, vol. II:  National Security Implications of the Information Age (CCRP 2000);  with Paul Hoffman  Safeguarding Liberty: National Security, Freedom of Expression and Access to Information: United States of America,  in Secrecy and Liberty, ed. Coliver et al. (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1999); and Preventive Detention of Immigrants and Non-Citizens in the United States since September 11th,  Refuge, (Centre for Refugee Studies 2002).

Previously Ms Martin was a partner with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Nussbaum, Owen & Webster.  She graduated from the University of Virginia Law School in 1977, where she was a member of the Law Review, and from Pomona College in 1973 with a B.A. in Philosophy.

           

Staff Counsel: Molly Burgdorf

Molly Burgdorf is Staff Counsel at CNSS.  She is an attorney with a background as a writer, editor, and educator.  Before joining our team, Ms. Burgdorf was a congressional legislative consultant for the National Council on Disability, an independent federal agency, where she worked on a range of issues that impact people with disabilities, including civil rights, emergency planning and preparedness, and health care.  In this role, she shared information and advice regarding legislative proposals with congressional staff and drafted testimony for hearings before Congress. 

 

Ms. Burgdorf has conducted policy analysis and legal research on a range of issues affecting the rights and lives of individuals.  She has also provided legal assistance to clients including victims of domestic violence and low-income tenants.  A graduate of the law school at the University of California, Davis, and a member of the Washington State Bar, Ms. Burgdorf relocated to the Washington D.C. area in 2006, to work on national legislative and policy advocacy.

 

 

NSAF, Inc. Board of Directors*:

 

Chair: Russell Hemenway

Mr. Rusell Hemenway is National Director of the National Committee for an Effective Congress; Trustee of The Fund for Peace Inc,; and Chair of the Fund for Constitutional Government.


Secretary: Edgar N. James, Esq.

Mr. Edgar N. James, Esq. is partner at James & Hoffman and a pro bono litigator on behalf of the Archive.


Treasurer: Nancy Kranich

Ms. Nancy Kranich is the former Associate Dean of Libraries of New York University and the former President of the American Library Association.


Dr. Anne Cahn, Ph.D.

Dr. Anne Cahn, Ph.D. is a member of the Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace, the former Director of the Committee on National Security, and a former Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and Department of Defense staffer.  She is also the author of Killing Détente.

 

Sheila Coronel

Ms. Sheila Coronel is Director of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and the former Director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.


Herbert N. Foerstel

Mr. Herbert N. Foerstel is a retired University of Maryland librarian and author of Secret Science and Surveillance in the Stacks. He is currently a member of the American Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee.


Gen. William Y. Smith, Ph.D.

Gen. William Y. Smith, Ph.D. is retired from the US Air Force and is the former President of the Institute for Defense Analyses. He is also the former Deputy Commander of NATO and co-author of Operation Anadyr.


President: Thomas S. Blanton

Mr. Thomas S. Blanton is currently Director of the National Security Archive.


* The Center for National Security Studies is a project of the National Security Archive Fund, Inc.

 

Contact Us:

 

1730 Pennsylvania Ave, NW

7th Floor

Washington, DC 20006

Phone 202.721.5650

Fax 202-530-0128

cnss@cnss.org