Karen Joy Greenberg

Karen Joy Greenberg is an American historian, professor, and author. She served as Director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University School of Law.

Early life and education

Greenberg earned a B.A. in history from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in history from Yale University.

Career Greenberg founded the Center on National Security at Fordham University School of Law in September 2011.

From 2003 to 2011, Greenberg served as the founding Executive Director of the Center on Law and Security at New York University School of Law. She also served as a visiting or adjunct faculty member at New York University from 1994 to 2009. She previously taught at Bard College and served as Vice President for Programs at the Soros Foundation.

Greenberg has written extensively on the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, terrorism, civil liberties, and U.S. national security. She is widely cited as a leading expert on national security and terrorism in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Mother Jones, The Daily Show, and many other media outlets. In addition, Greenberg has observed numerous terrorism trials and hearings, including the Sulaiman Abu Ghaith trial in 2014.

She is a permanent member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Published Works

The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib (2005) Al Qaeda Now (2005) The Torture Debate in America (2005) The Enemy Combatant Papers: American Justice, the Courts and the War on Terror (2008) The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo's First 100 Days (2009) Rogue Justice: The Making of the Security State (2016) Reimagining the National Security State: Liberalism on the Brink (2019) Subtle Tools: The Dismantling of American Democracy from the War on Terror to Donald Trump (2021) Our Nation at Risk: Election Integrity as a National Security Issue (2024)