The Best Defense?: Legitimacy and Preventive Force

This final version of the Report of the Stanford University Task Force on Preventive Force, Chaired by former Reagan Secretary of State George Shultz and former Clinton special assistant for national security affairs Coit Blacker, provides an assessment of the Bush doctrine of preemptive force and presents a detailed discussion of the use of armed preventative action to combat terrorist threats in relation to relevant United Nations rules and international law. Beginning with definitions of preventative force, the work discusses current threats and the efficacy of preventive force, categories of preventive action, dangers and limitations, international law, and policy legitimacy. The Task force is made up of distinguished scholars and policy makers and Sofaer is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Abraham D. Sofaer, who served as legal adviser to the US Department of State from 1985 to 1990, was appointed the first George P. Shultz Distinguished Scholar and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution in 1994. During his service as legal adviser, he was responsible for US/Iran negotiations at the Iran/US Tribunal in The Hague.