Jennifer Daskal is an American lawyer who serves as senior counsel for Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...

, and focuses on issues of terrorism, criminal law and immigration. She is also currently a political hire at the Department of Justice, which is seeking to prosecute terror suspects through the criminal justice system instead of through military tribunals.

A graduate of Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

, Cambridge and Brown University

Brown University

Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

 and a Marshall Scholar, Daskal garnered attention after traveling to the countries to which Guantanamo captives have been released, to verify that those countries are abiding by the undertakings they made to the US Government to respect the returned captives' human rights.

On February 23, 2010, the New York Post

New York Post

The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...

reported that Daskal, Neal Katyal

Neal Katyal

Neal Kumar Katyal is an American lawyer and chaired professor of law. He served as Acting Solicitor General of the United States from May 2010 until June 2011. As Acting Solicitor General, Katyal succeeded Elena Kagan, who was President Barack Obama's choice to replace the retiring Associate...

, and three other lawyers who had worked on behalf of the civil rights of Guantanamo captives, had been serving on the Obama administration's task force reviewing the status of the remaining Guantanamo captives.
The paper had first questioned her appointment to the Department of Justice

United States Department of Justice

The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...

's National Security Division, in July 2009, and then again in January 2010.

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