2015

Security vs. Liberty: Balancing the Scales of Freedom

The 2015 Hancock Symposium explored the balance of national security and personal freedoms. At the two-day event, an impressive, diverse group of speakers — including politicians, journalists, formal military members and leaders in the fields of security law and intelligence — challenged students and guests with topics ranging from cybersecurity, data and privacy to legal debate regarding interrogation techniques and more.

Green Foundation Speaker: U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson

The fourth U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson was sworn into office on Dec. 23, 2013. Before joining the DHS, he served as general counsel for the Department of Defense, where he led more than 10,000 military and civilian lawyers across the department while overseeing the development of the legal aspects of many U.S. counterterrorism policies, leading reforms to the military commissions system at Guantanamo Bay in 2009 and co-authoring the report that paved the way for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in 2010. He also served as general counsel of the Department of the Air Force from 1998 to 2001; an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1989 to 1991; and was a partner with the New York City-based law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. In 2004, Secretary Johnson was elected a Fellow in the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College and a JD from Columbia University Law School.

Keynote Speaker

Sen. Roy Blunt, United States senator and vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, Missouri

Plenary Speakers

Dr. Laura Donahue, professor of law, director of the Center on National Security and the Law and director of the Center on Privacy and Technology, Georgetown University Law Center

Jeremy Scahill, investigative journalist and best-selling author of Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield

Executive Speakers

Dr. Farhat Haq, professor of political science at Monmouth College and visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.

John Rizzo, senior council for Steptoe Law Firm in Washington, D.C. and former counsel for the Central Intelligence Agency

Dr. David Titley, retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, professor of practice in the Department of Meteorology at the Pennsylvania State University and former head of the U.S. Navy Task Force on Climate Change

Dr. Kristan Stoddart, senior lecturer in the Department of International Studies at Aberystwyth University in Wales

Breakout Session Speakers

Dr. Deb Hume, associate teaching professor at the University of Missouri

Chad John, FBI special agent

Kathryn Ayers Wickenhauser, MBA, CHTS, health care compliance consultant at DataFile Technologies

Sen. Maria Chappell-Nadal, state senator, St. Louis County, District 14

Tony Jordan, former senior intelligence officer of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service

Capt. David Hall, director of the Missouri Information Analysis Center, Missouri Highway Patrol

Dr. Amanda Murdie, associate professor of political science at the University of Missouri

Dr. Erick Hewlett, professor of medicine, infectious diseases and health at the University of Virginia

Dr. Bari Bumgarner, author, assistant professor of education and WMD researcher at Westminster College

Dr. Linda Webster, associate dean of faculty and professor of computer science at Westminster College

Dr. Rodney Harrison, dean of postgraduate studies and professor of Christian education at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary