At the Santa Fe conference this past fall, the two-hour panel on WikiLeaks featured a lively discussion on whether or not there have been any serious ramifications from the extensive leaks. The debate continues and on December 8, 2011, The Wall Street Journal published an op/ed Don’t Cry for Julian Assange by Floyd Abrams, noted First Amendment lawyer. Abrams argues that Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have exhibited “persistent recklessness” in such disclosures as a classified report describing the radio-frequency jammers used in Iraq by American soldiers to cut off signals to remotely detonated explosives.

UPDATED SUMMARY NOVEMBER 9, 2011

NAFUSA concluded a successful annual conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on October 1, 2011. Click here to view 700 photos from the conference.

Main Justice has posted videos from the Santa Fe conference.

Click here to view the presentation of the Bradford Award to AUSA Ken Sorenson.

Click here to view Janet Napolitano’s keynote address at the concluding banquet and Ken Sorenson’s presentation of the case which won him the Bradford Award.

Finally, click here to view portions of the WikiLeaks panel discussion.

NAFUSA member Peter Vaira once again has provided detailed summaries of the conference. Click here to read Peter’s summaries of the Santa Fe conference presentations, including Steve Easton’s presentation on expert witnesses, the panel on Southwest border issues, the WikiLeaks panel and Stewart Youngs’s presentation on the Supreme Court term 2010-2011.

The New York Times correspondent Charlie Savage is not the only journalist in the Savage family. Charlie’s wife, Luiza Savage, is a corresondent for Macleans.ca, the Canadian weekly news magazine. Charlie has attended the past two NAFUSA conferences. In New York City in 2010, he moderated the panel discussion on the appropriate forum in which to prosecute terrorism cases. Charlie continues to follow this still unsettled issue. See, for instance, Charlie’s October 28, 2011 article in The Times. In Santa Fe, Charlie moderated the panel on the Southwest border and was a WikiLeads panelist.

Luiza Savage accompanied Charlie to Santa Fe. She put her time to good use when she interviewed another WikiLeaks panelist, Valerie Plame Wilson, at La Posada following the panel. Luiza’s interview of Valerie Plame can be read here.

Harvard Law Professor Jack Goldsmith, former Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, argues why the U.S. shouldn’t try Julian Assange.

In a second Main Justice video, former federal prosecutor Eric Snyder argues the case for prosecution. Goldsmith and Snyder were joined on the panel at the Santa Fe conference by 2007 Pulitzer Prize winner Charlie Savage, now Washington correspondent for The New York Times, Ken Wainstein, who served in many high ranking positions in the Bush Administration, including the first Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and Valerie Plame Wilson, a former covert CIA operations officer whose name became public as a result of a well publized leak. The panel was moderated by NAFUSA Executive Director Rich Rossman.

Videos courtesy of Main Justice – Politics, Policy and The Law.

Click here to view 700 photos from the recently concluded annual conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was keynote speaker at the NAFUSA Conference in Santa Fe on October 1st. Outgoing NAFUSA president Bill Lutz gave the introduction.

At the NAFUSA Conference, Hawaii Assitant U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson discussed the prosecution of former Northrop engineer Noshir Gowadia, convicted of selling classified military information to the Chinese. Sorenson won the 2011 J. Michael Bradford award for the case.

Videos courtesy of Main Justice — Politics, Policy and The Law.

Video courtesy of Main Justice.

Main Justice report on Bradford Award.

On Saturday, October 1, 2011, Richard H. Deane, Jr., became the 32nd president of NAFUSA. At the concluding banquet of the Santa Fe conference, Rick was introduced by outgoing president Bill Lutz. Rick promply lauded the job done by Bill and his wife, Jeanne, in organizing the outstanding conference in New Mexico. Rick then presented Bill with a NAFUSA’s gift of a high powered telescope to view the New Mexico skies above Bill’s home in Las Cruces.

Rick Deane served as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, 1998-2001. He was also a Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. He previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District from 1980-1994. Rick is currently a partner in the Atlanta office of Jones Day, where he is co-chair of the Firm’s Corporate Criminal Investigations Practice and a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

On Saturday evening, the following officers for 2011-2012 were elected: President Elect: Jay Stephens, District of Columbia; Vice President: Don Stern, Massachusetts; Secretary: Matt Orwig, ED Texas; Treasurer: Greg Vega, SD California; Immediate Past President: Bill Lutz, New Mexico.

The new directors elected for the term ending 2014 were: Paul Coggins, ND Texas; Karen Hewitt, SD California; Doug Jones, ND Alabama; Tom Maroney, ND New York; and Ron Woods, SD Texas.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, former United States Attorney for the District of Arizona, was the keynote speaker at Saturday’s closing banquet.

The Thursday evening cocktail reception was held at the Palace of the Governors on Santa Fe Plaza.

The Friday morning panel discussion on Southwest Border issues featured high ranking officials from the governments of Mexico and the United States.

The Saturday panel on WikiLeaks included former government officials, members of the press and a former undercover CIA agent.

Bradford Award winner Ken Sorenson brought his family with him from Hawaii.

It was a beautiful evening in Santa Fe for the cocktail reception prior to the concluding banquet.

A large contingent of former United States Attorneys from Texas attended the conference.

Appointees of President George W. Bush were, once again, well represented.

The officers of NAFUSA posed for a final photo.