Carrie Johnson at NPR posts (who knew that NPR reporters were blogging? This is really great stuff – add Carrie to your RSS feed) some important additional details. First, she confirms that there is still an open thread in the … Read more »
A dramatic announcement just now from the Justice Department, concerning the outcome of the Durham Investigation into CIA interrogation practices. It is unclear from the context whether that investigation continues with respect to the destruction of interrogation videotapes, though the … Read more »
The Washington Post reports this morning that JSOC recently carried out a drone strike in Somalia, targeting two al-Shabab leaders. The piece emphasizes that the Administration has recently highlighted al-Shabab in public statements, warning that al-Shabab is growing increasingly focused … Read more »
A slow news day in the department of Hard National Security Choices.
The Washington Post is reporting that White House counterterrorism chief John O. Brennan, speaking at SAIS, unveiled President Obama’s national strategy for counterterrorism. He called it “neither…a wholesale … Read more »
As things stand now, the National Defense Authorization Act could end up being a disaster for the Obama administration on detainee matters. Much of the fault for this lies with Congress, a bipartisan majority of which insists upon injecting reckless … Read more »
Marty Lederman offers this analysis over at Balkinization of two critical amendments proposed by Senator Richard Lugar and adopted by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday.
Lederman points out that the first of Lugar’s amendments would legally restrict the use of ground … Read more »
[UPDATE: See here for a clarification; contrary to my original read below, it appears Admiral McRaven did not mean for the list of disposition options to refer to non-AUMF scenarios] While many eyes were on Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s WPR … Read more »
In connection with Harold Koh’s testimony regarding American intervention in Libya yesterday—which Bobby discussed here and here—NPR’s Carrie Johnson reported on Koh’s path to his current views here. The New York Times‘ Jennifer Steinhauer, meanwhile, reports on the Senate … Read more »
Eric Posner and Adrian Vermeule have an essay in Slate that argues that it was appropriate for President Obama to ignore OLC’s advice related to the War Powers Resolution. The thrust of their argument, which contrasts sharply with Trevor Morrison’s … Read more »
Harold Koh’s written testimony in connection with today’s SFRC hearing on the WPR and Libya is now available,. [Update: Testimony from Lou Fisher is here. Testimony from Peter Spiro is here.] It is much the same as … Read more »
For the benefit of those who could not watch the SFRC hearing this morning on Libya and the WPR, here are highlights from the oral testimony from State Department Legal Advisor Harold Koh (the written testimony is not yet publicly … Read more »
Bobby covered this DOJ press release announcing that Justin Cannon, the Blackwater contractor who was convicted in March of involuntary manslaughter for the 2009 shooting and killing of an Afghan man in Kabul, received a 30 month sentence. The Miami … Read more »
The following is a guest post from Peter Margulies (Roger Williams Law), reporting highlights from the Naval War College’s International Law Conference 2011 (“Non-International Armed Conflict in the 21st Century”). Note in particular the exchange relating to whether U.S. Command … Read more »
File this under the heading of the ever-popular topic of whether there is any legal accountability for contractors on the battlefield…
A thirty-month sentence today for Justin Cannon, a Blackwater contractor who was convicted in March of involuntary manslaughter in … Read more »
Well, this is going to be interesting, and probably more than a little tense. State Department Legal Advisor Harold Koh will testify tomorrow morning, at 10 eastern (in theory), before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Watch it here. And … Read more »
