25 Years of the War on Terror - Panel Discussion
September 2026 marks 25 years of the ongoing War on Terror, a global military and ideological campaign that has fundamentally reshaped US foreign and domestic policy, legal and ethical military norms, and culture. The upcoming anniversary of the advent of the War on Terror provides an opportunity to reflect on the past 25 years and discuss how the United States, along with the rest of the world, has transformed since then. At the same time, this anniversary offers a chance to look further into the past, drawing continuities between the War on Terror and the irregular/asymmetric warfare and carceral practice that proliferates throughout US history, as well as into the future, positing the possibilities that lie ahead as the War on Terror continues to push ahead.
Join us at this special panel event, where we reflect on the past 25 years that the War on Terror has defined and the possibilities for the future that lie ahead. Book signing reception to follow.
Panels
Spencer Ackerman has been covering the War on Terror since practically its inception. For outlets like The New Republic, The Nation, Wired Magazine, The Guardian and The Daily Beast, Ackerman has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, and many U.S. bases, surface ships and submarines. His work has won a shared Pulitzer Prize, a National Magazine Award, an Investigative Reporters & Editors Medal and other accolades. His 2021 book Reign of Terror: How The 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump won an American Book Award and was named a Book of the Year by the New York Times Critics, the Washington Post and the PBS NewsHour. In 2027, Ackerman will release his next book, titled The Torture and Deliverance of Majid Khan: A Father, A Son and The War on Terror. In addition to contributing to Zeteo, Ackerman publishes a newsletter of his journalism, Forever Wars.
Jeremy Varon is a Professor of History at The New School in New York City. He is author of three books, including Our Grief is Not a Cry for War: The Movement to Stop the War on Terror, published by the University of Chicago Press in 2025. He is a longstanding peace activist and was, for years, a lead organizer with Witness Against Torture.
Deepa Kumar is an internationally renowned scholar of anti-Muslim racism. Her acclaimed book Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire has been translated into five languages, with a fully revised and expanded second edition published in 2021. She has authored over 90 publications, including books, peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and essays in both independent and mainstream media. Kumar has given dozens of lectures at universities around the world and participated in over 200 media interviews, sharing her insights through outlets such as the BBC and The New York Times. As a public intellectual, her work has had a significant impact beyond academia.
Maha Hilal is a Muslim Arab American expert on institutionalized Islamophobia, the War on Terror, and counternarrative work. She is the author of the book Innocent Until Proven Muslim: Islamophobia, the War on Terror, and the Muslim Experience Since 9/11, and her writings have appeared in Vox, Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye, Newsweek, Business Insider, The Daily Beast, and Truthout, among others. Dr. Hilal is also the founding Executive Director of Muslim Counterpublics Lab and a founding steering committee member of the Guantanamo Survivors Fund. Across her scholarship and advocacy, she centers the experiences and narratives of communities most impacted by state violence while challenging the legal and political structures that sustain it.
Sponsored by:
Department of American Studies
Department of History
Franco Family Institute for Liberal Arts and the Public Good
Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy
Gender Studies Program
Institute for Latino Studies
Institute for Social Concerns
Klau Institute for Civil & Human Rights
Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
Literatures of Annihilation, Exile, and Resistance
Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies
Originally published at asia.nd.edu.