The chapters of this book focus on policies and positions adopted by the US government during the eight years of the George W. Bush administration. However, to say this does not imply that the themes are time-bound or parochial. The tension between national security and human rights, leaders’ itch to maximize their power during times of emergency (real, perceived, or merely proclaimed), the morality and law of torture, and the ethical dilemmas of professionals in government are here to stay—maybe not forever, but certainly for years to come. Nor are they merely US issues, even though US policies and law raised them in an especially clear form. The threat of terrorism affects much of the world, as do the threats of torture and inflated executive power.

Nevertheless, readers will surely wonder what became of the distinctive views about rights, power, and torture in the Bush administration. The answer, I will suggest, is complex. On the one hand, the Obama administration has explicitly prohibited torture and avoided extreme assertions of executive power. As discussed in the preface to Chapter 2, Obama denies that his role as commander in chief places his decisions outside civilian law. These are major reversals. On the other hand, his administration has deliberately downplayed the torture issue, and there has been no accountability for torture. That creates problems that I shall explore in this concluding chapter.