LA Times Festival of Books. Current Events: Today's Dangerous World

It was off to one of my favorite events of the year in Los Angeles: The LA Times Festival of Books. My fourth conversation was called "Current Events: Today's Dangerous World."

The below biographies are stolen from the LA Times Festival guide:

Jess Bravin.  Bravin is Supreme Court correspondent for the Wall Street Journal.  He received the Elizabeth Neuffer Memorial Prize for reporting on the International Criminal Court and the American Bar Assn.'s Silver Gavel Award for coverage of the legal response to 9/11.  Bravin is a former UC regent and the author of several books, the most recent of which is "The Terror Court."

Brian Michael Jenkins.  Jenkins is one of the world's foremost authorities on terrorism.  During his four decades of analysis, Jenkins has advised governments, private corporations and international organizations.  He currently serves as senior advisor to the president of the Rand Corp.  His latest book is "The Long Shadow of 9/11:  America's Response to Terrorism."

Mark Mazzetti.  Mazzetti is a national security correspondent for the New York Times.  In 2009, he shared a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the intensifying violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  The previous year, he was a Pulitzer finalist for reporting on the CIA's detention and interrogation program.  "The Way of the Knife:  The CIA, a Secret Army and a War at the Ends of the Earth" is his first book.

The below are my notes -- flawed as they might be:

Brian Michael Jenkins.  America is concerned about the security of chemical weapons in Syria, has plans to protect nuclear weapons in Pakistan and has held war game to secure nuclear weapons in North Korea if it implodes.

How can we put events in Boston into a broader context?  The broad Jihad movement we face is much more decentralized after 9/11.  It has moved to websites/chatrooms, but has not been successful.  Many events were thwarted before terrorist events.  Only 4 terrorist events were successful while many weren't.  The successes:  a military base, a military recruitment center, Time Square and Boston.  Most of the terrorists are incompetent.  Boston was not surprising as we can't stop 100% of events.  Ideology is a component in realm of violence, but not key factor.  Anger, humiliation, revenge, manhood, personal crisis are main reasons.  Young people turn to terrorism as a way to deal with their own personal problems.

It is positive development that we are at least having a debate even if we are struggling with errors made during our war on terrorism.

Jess Bravin.  Talk of military courts came from the top.  Until 9/11, there was no problem with using the Federal Court system.  He got wind of military commission after 9/11.  As a legal scholar he had to look up about this from obscure legal classes from law school.  There are issues based on citizenship versus non-citizens.  Guantanamo was a round-up where legal charges were drawn up after evidence acquired on prisoners.   The 9/11 plan was to set up a court that was outside of Federal Courts and Congress.  Wanted as much flexibility as possible for Bush.  No one brought to Guantanamo since 2004.  Obama's policies are less unfair than Bush's, but still similar.  It is hard to start up a court system from scratch.

Mark Mazzetti.  38 drone attacks during Bush, but Obama has done 121.  Senator Obama indicated he would do what he is now doing.  Did talk about waging war where America needed to wage war.  Embraced war started by Bush.  Obama said there needs to be ways in place regarding drone strikes as the power is seductive.  There needs to be accountability.  Members of Congress pressure for limits, but Congress has limited power in this area.  Congress doesn't get memos that approve targeted killings.  Implication of drone attacks:  transformation of CIA, blurring of lines between soldiers and spies.  Itelligence and interrogation were the main duties, but has shifted to targeted killing.  Counter-terrorist department of CIA is growing more important.  Military is also looking more like CIA.  When Defense Secretary Rumsfeld came in, he set up the Pentagon to fight war outside of war zone and get more intelligence.  There was an eventual compromise between the military and CIA where territory was split up between the two.  For example, military in some areas are under CIA such as Zero Dark Thirty where navy seals were placed uner CIA authority.