Jacob Sullum on Obama's Indefinite Detention of Suspected Terrorists

Do you see a problem with a law that authorizes indefinite military detention of anyone the president identifies as an enemy of the state? For President Barack Obama, the problem was clear: The law did not give him enough discretion. As Senior Editor Jacob Sullum explains, in December 2011, Obama signed the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, having dropped a veto threat after Congress added language promising that the law would not affect the FBI's "criminal enforcement and national security authorities." Obama, like his predecessor, wants the leeway to keep terrorism suspects in civilian custody, and maybe even give them a trial, if he so chooses. Those of us who are not the president, Sullum writes, are apt to be more concerned about the law's "affirmation" of his unchecked power to lock us up and throw away the key.