In the News
Prosecutors in Iraq Case See Pattern By Guards
New York Times - 9/14/2009
Afghan Embassy Scandal's Link to Cost-Cutting Security
TIME - 9/11/2009
C.I.A. Sought Blackwater's Help in Plan to Kill Jihadists
New York Times - 8/20/2009
Our Staff
Kevin Lanigan
Director, Law and Security Program, Human Rights First
Kevin Lanigan is Director of the Law & Security Program at Human Rights First. Before he joined Human Rights First, Kevin practiced law for twenty years as an associate and partner with the Washington, D.C., law firm Hogan & Hartson, primarily in the area of civil rights. Earlier in his career, he served as a state prosecutor in Arizona and later as executive director of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest. Kevin has taught international, military and public interest law at Georgetown University and at Arizona State University College of Law, and has been a frequent speaker on topics including criminal justice issues, human rights and post-conflict reconstruction.
Kevin served on active duty as a U.S. Army Reserve judge advocate in Bosnia during 2001, Afghanistan during 2002-03, and Iraq during 2005-06, with duties including rule of law support and reform and human rights protection. He was twice awarded the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious achievement and service in Afghanistan and Iraq. During 2006-07 Kevin served as legal advisor to the Iraq Ministry of the Interior in a UK Department for International Development capacity development program. He has also served as a civilian advisor in the post-conflict security and reconstruction sphere in Afghanistan.
Scott Horton
Senior Project Consultant
Since February of this year, Scott Horton has managed this project on the Accountability of Private Military Contractors at Human Rights First.
Scott Horton is an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School where he teaches the law of armed conflict and commercial law courses. He has recently served as Chair of several Committees at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.
Scott Horton is also a contributor to Harper's Magazine and writes a blog called No Comment for their website. He is also a member of the board of the National Institute of Military Justice, the Andrei Sakharov Foundation, the EurasiaGroup and the American Branch of the International Law Association.
Devon Chaffee
Associate Attorney, Human Rights First
As a law student, Devon focused on the impact of national security policies on civil liberties and human rights. She worked with Professor David Cole on federal appellate litigation challenging the constitutionality of anti-terrorism laws that impute guilt by association and restrict free speech. She also organized a fact-finding mission to Ecuador to interview Colombian refugees unfairly barred from the United States due to the “material support to terrorism” immigration bar. In 2004, Devon interviewed 50 Darfurian refugees in Eastern Chad as part of a U.S. State Department investigation into the war crimes being committed in Sudan. While in law school Devon interned with the Documentation Center of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, the Committee on Conscience at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Center for Applied Legal Studies- Asylum Clinic, and Amnesty International, USA.
Before entering law school Devon was a global security policy advocate at a number of non-governmental organizations including the Center for Defense Information in Washington, D.C. Devon received her J.D. magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center (2006) where she was a Public Interest Law Scholar and her B.A. from Hampshire College (2001) in International Relations and Human Rights.
Reagan Kuhn
Project Consultant
Reagan holds a Masters Degree in International Affairs from l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and an undergraduate degree from Boston University in English and Ancient Greek and Latin. Before joining this project, Reagan worked on a conference in France focusing on global governance and civil society for the Institute on the Reform of Governance and worked in Hanoi, Vietnam for a consortium of NGOs on a project on local development. She also worked as a legal assistant at Shearman & Sterling in Paris.
Elizabeth Shutkin
Project Consultant
Elizabeth holds a B.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. She wrote her senior thesis on the role of the International Criminal Court in conflict resolution. She has also held internships at the Council on Foreign Relations, CBS News, and Human Rights Watch.
With the support of…
The Accountability for Private Security Contractors project is coordinated through the Law and Security program of Human Rights First.
This Report would not have been possible without extensive pro bono research and analysis undertaken by Linklaters L.L.P., an international law firm headquartered in London.
The conclusions drawn and views expressed in this Report are those of Human Rights First alone and reflect the final analysis of the HRF staff and consultants on this project.
