Amos N. Guiora

Amos N. Guiora is an Israeli-American professor of law at S. J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah, and an expert on drone attacks.

Amos Guiora was born in Israel. The family moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan before he began school. In 1979, he graduated Kenyon College with honors in history. Prior to attending Case Western Reserve University School of Law, he worked in Washington, D.C., for two years as an assistant to Howard Wolpe and one year for a communications consulting company.

After graduating from Case, Guiora returned to Israel and served in the Israeli Defense Forces Judge Advocate General Corps, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Guiora teaches Criminal Law, Global Perspectives on Counter-terrorism, Religion and Terrorism, and National Security Law. He is a widely cited expert on Legal Aspects of Counterterrorism, Terror Financing, International Law, and Morality in Armed Conflict. He explained to the Los Angeles Times that Israel has dropped coercive techniques, and now spends months interviewing terrorism suspects and convicts, establishing a rapport with them and then getting them to open up.

Guiora was formerly a professor of law and director of the Institute for Global Security at Case Western Reserve School of Law. He served in the Israel Defense Forces Judge Advocate General's Corps (Lt. Col. Ret.). He was Commander of the IDF School of Military Law, Judge Advocate for the Navy and Home Front Command, and the Legal Advisor to the Gaza Strip. Guiora was involved in the capture of the Karine A, a PLO weapons ship.

On targeted killing, Guiora said: "targeted killing absolutely is the implementation, the manifestation of aggressive, preemptive self-defense based on Article 51 of the United Nations Charter." Inasmuch as going into Gaza, for example, to arrest a notorious terrorist is "a highly dangerous military operation that would put more IDF soldiers in harm's way", he said, "International law does not require Israel to carry out high-risk arrests."

Books

• Homeland Security: What is It and Where Are We Going?, CRC Press/Taylor and Francis Publishers, 2011 (forthcoming).
• Global Perspectives on Counterterrorism, 2nd revised and enlarged edition, Aspen Publishers, 2011 (forthcoming).
• Counterterrorism Law Across Borders: Differing Perspectives on Rights and Security, with Gregory McNeal, Aspen Publishers, 2010 (forthcoming).
• Freedom from Religion: Rights and National Security, Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Annual Review—Top Ten Global Justice Law Review Articles, (General Editor), vol. II, Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Fundamentals of Counterterrorism, Aspen Publishers, 2008.
• Annual Review—Top Ten Global Justice Law Review Articles, (General Editor), vol. I, Oxford University Press, 2008.
• Constitutional Limits on Coercive Interrogation, Oxford University Press, 2008.
• Global Perspectives on Counterterrorism, Aspen Publishers, 2007.

Select other publications

• Terrorism Primer (Aspen, Fall 2008)
• "Interrogating the Detainees: Extending a Hand or a Boot," University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
• "Using and Abusing Financial Markets: Money Laundering as the Achilles Heel of Terrorism," co-authored with Brian Field, University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Economics
• "Quirin to Hamdan: Creating a Hybrid Paradigm for Detaining Terrorists," Florida Journal of International Law
• "National Objectives in the Hands of Junior Leaders: IDF Experiences in Combating Terror," co-authored with Martha Minow of Harvard University, in Countering Terrorism in the 21st Century (Praeger Security International, 2007)
• "A Framework for Evaluating Counterterrorism Regulations," with Jerry Ellig and Kyle McKenzie, Mercatus policy series
• "Transnational Comparative Analysis of Balancing Competing Interests in Counterterrorism," Temple International & Comparative Law Journal
• "Where are Terrorists to be Tried: A Comparative Analysis of Rights Granted to Suspected Terrorists," Catholic University Law Review