Public Administration and International Affairs Department News, Media Commentary and Research

"Posse comitatus isn't the only legal problem. Everything that the United States does has to be based on some legal authority," says William C. Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs.

Putin’s overall vision is, first, to "create strategic depth for himself to make sure there’s nobody on his borders that can threaten him," says University Professor James Steinberg. "Second, it is to weaken and demoralize the West and keep folks preoccupied having to put out fires."

"On one hand, it is kind of ridiculous because there is nothing approaching an invasion there," says William C. Banks, professor of public administration and international affairs. "There is no indication that there is a force lining the border that [Customs and Border Protection] couldn’t take care of. But on the other hand, if you take the Cabinet order’s language at face value, and take what the president is saying as credible threats, then it becomes grayer."

Maxwell alumnus Joseph Strasser ’53 B.A. (History)/’58 M.P.A., one of the Ssool’s most significant donors of all time, received the prestigious 2018 Arents Award, Syracuse University’s highest alumni honor. When accepting the award, Strasser spoke about his time in Germany and his philanthropic commitment to education and the welfare of animals.

Maxwell X Lab, part of the Center for Policy Research at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, recently completed a series of projects designed to reduce overdue property tax bills in the City of Syracuse. So far, the initiative has helped the City to recoup more than $1.4 million in overdue property taxes, and hundreds of additional properties were prompted to get current on their bills, preventing more costly and troublesome outcomes for both the owner and the City alike.

The Susan and H. Lewis Rapaport Endowed Scholarship will support undergraduate students who have demonstrated interest in studying history or political science. When complete, the Rapaport endowment will total $250,000. “As a member of the Maxwell Advisory Board, I’ve seen first-hand the remarkable undergraduate students who are attending Maxwell today,” Lewis Rapaport ’59 B.A. (AmSt) says. 

According to Professor Emeritus William C. Banks, U.S. troops can’t detain, arrest or search anyone at the border. That’s a law enforcement function, and the military can’t perform those duties on U.S. soil unless there’s no other way to enforce the law. 

"Some people will make hay while the sun shines," says University Professor James Steinberg. "If people have an interest in doing business with Trump, they may want to do it now."

Responding to immigration influxes has typically been the purview of the National Guard, such as Operation Jump Start from 2006-2008 under former President George W. Bush, says Professor Emeritus William C. Banks.

"It does look like it was not a terribly sophisticated campaign or attack," says Professor Emeritus William Banks about high profile democrats, public figures, and the CNN newsroom in New York receiving apparent explosive devices. "On the other hand, the packages did manage to get through the postal system without getting detected, so it is certainly a worrisome case."

William C. Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs, says "There are no Justice Department rules that limit the investigation in the pendency of an election. Mr. Mueller is simply going about his day and lugging the law and facts to where they need to go."

Professor Emeritus William Banks discussed Christopher Wray's Senate Testimony on a Bloomberg Law podcast. In his testimony, Wray named China as the number one threat to the U.S, and discussed FBI mishandlings of background checks and drone regulations.