The Keynote Address begins with a brief introduction from Jack. He notes that one thing extraordinary about Savage is his ability to extract information from government officials and the clarity with which he can describe and discuss complicated legal issues. … Read more »
Prof. David Barron kicks off the last panel discussion of the conference, focusing on the Presidency in the Post-9/11 World. He begins by noting that it is not surprising that a serious national security crisis will change the presidency. Second, … Read more »
The afternoon session of Day 2 of the conference begins with introductory remarks from Gabby Blum, the moderator of the afternoon’s first panel. She asks the panel to discuss the utility of force; what are the costs of engaging in … Read more »
Session 4 begins with a brief introduction of the panelists from Prof. Dick Fallon, the panel’s moderator. Panelists include Prof. Phil Heymman, Ben Wizner, director of litigation of the ACLU’s National Security Project, Prof. Gerald Neuman, and Prof. Trevor Morrison.… Read more »
Day 2 of the HLS-Brookings Program on Law and National Security conference begins with Prof. Blum introducing Chibli Mallat, moderator of the first panel of the morning. He says he would like to point out three elements that “seem to … Read more »
I have little to add to Jack’s excellent post yesterday about Charlie Savage’s fascinating New York Times story on the latest dispute within the administration on the scope and reach of the AUMF. But I did want to draw readers’ … Read more »
An update: we’ve attended today’s oral argument in Suleiman v. Obama, at the D.C. Circuit. For scheduling reasons, however, we’ll have to delay posting a recap of the argument until Monday. Stay tuned . . .
Here is the prepared text, released by the White House, of John Brennan’s speech at the Harvard Law School-Brookings conference now under way in Cambridge. I will post video, including of the very interesting Q&A, as soon as I can:… Read more »
Professor Blum welcomes the audience back and invites Professor Dan Meltzer to introduce John Brennan. Meltzer provides a short biography for Brennan and notes that he has been a key actor in shaping the government’s response to 9/11. He explains … Read more »
With a few moments to go before the HLS-Brookings Program on Law & Security’s inaugural event begins, I wanted to briefly introduce myself to the Lawfare community. As Ben mentioned in an earlier post, I’m Keith Gerver, a recent graduate … Read more »
Kevin writes in with a final round of thoughts in his exchange with Peter in regards to the CMCR decision in al-Bahlul:
Peter continues to miss the central issue in al-Bahlul: namely, whether “any of the acts charged
Beginning this afternoon, the Harvard Law School-Brookings Project on Law and Security will host its inaugural event: ”Law, Security, and Liberty after 9/11: Looking to the Future.” It will take place at the Harvard Law School today and throughout the … Read more »
It looks like I missed a habeas decision a few weeks ago. According to a docket entry of which I only became aware this morning, federal district Judge Royce Lamberth has ruled on the remand in the case of Al … Read more »
Charlie Savage has a story about a dispute between DOD General Counsel Jeh Johnson and State Legal Advisor Harold Koh over the scope of the president’s legal authority to target members of al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist groups in Yemen (AQAP) and … Read more »
More than a month ago, U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy denied the habeas petition of a Guantanamo detainee named Fadhel Hussein Saleh Hentif (ISN 259). The opinion was classified at the time, but has now been release in redacted form… Read more »
The Associated Press (via The Washington Post) reports that Tunisia is sending a mission to the United States to convince the U.S. to release the five Tunisians who are still being detained in Guantanamo.
Michael G. Vickers, the undersecretary … Read more »
The briefing in Alsabri v. Obama, a Guantanamo habeas appeal, is now complete. Mashour Abudllah Muqbel Alsabri is appealing Judge Ricardo Urbina’s memorandum opinion.
We earlier posted Alsabri’s appeals brief (available here) and the government’s brief (available here… Read more »
That is the title that the editors of the New York Times Magazine gave to an essay I wrote in reaction to former Vice-President Cheney’s book, In My Time. The thrust of the essay is that early Bush unilateralism was … Read more »
Kevin Heller (Melbourne) writes in with a response to last night’s post from Peter Margulies on the CMCR decision in Al-Bahlul:
Peter Margulies is absolutely right that I ignore the factual differences between Hamdan and al-Bahlul. But that
Peter Margulies (Roger Williams) takes up one of the central issues addressed in the CMCR’s decision last Friday in al-Bahlul:
Material support charges in military commissions illustrate the perils of painting with a broad brush. In United States v.
That’s what Dylan Boyd pled to today. It’s quite a mouthful, but if you go through it slowly it does actually prove coherent–though also good fodder for a criminal law exam…. In any event, from the press release:
RALEIGH, N.C.
As noted previously, I testified in late July before House Armed Services regarding detention policy, with a focus on the Warsame situation. I’ve seen received a handful of QFRs from committee members, and thought readers might be interested in seeing … Read more »
Not a lot in the headlines the past couple of days.
Josh Gerstein at the Politico reports that the CIA is conducting an internal review of its relationship with the NYPD. This inquiry is in response to a report last … Read more »
The next episode in the D.C. Circuit’s Guantanamo detention saga: Suleiman v. Obama (Case No. 10-5292), an appeal set for oral argument this Friday before the D.C. Circuit. UPDATE: the oral argument is set for 2 p.m.
The case likely … Read more »
DOJ had a heck of a good run in terorrism and national security cases over the past seven days, including three sets of guilty please plus a hefty sentence in another case. The details appear below:
Daniel Byman’s recent book, A High Price: The Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism, has two main goals: to tell the story of Israel’s counterterrorism forces and strategy, and to draw out lessons from the Israeli experience that can … Read more »
Over at Opinio Juris, Julian Ku and Kevin Jon Heller have good commentary on the U.N. Human Rights Council’s expert statement that takes issue with the earlier conclusion of the special panel appointed by the Secretary General concerning the legality … Read more »
Please see the below Call for Papers from the William Mitchell Law Review.
Call for Papers
The National Security Issue of the William Mitchell Law Review brings together the opinions of expert commentators and journalists on vital topics in US
Fordham Law School has announced that Karen Greenberg, the former executive director of the Center on Law and Security at NYU School of Law, will lead its new Center on National Security. Karen is an important participant in national security
House and Senate intelligence committees have reached a bipartisan (really, I said it) agreement to remove two provisions from the authorization bill they’re considering. We shared last week the details of these two provisions which, if enacted, would have required … Read more »
Steve Vladeck is a professor of law (and Associate Dean for Scholarship) at American University Washington College of Law. Steve is the author of many terrific articles relating to national security and the law, including “The New Habeas Revisionism… Read more »
This edited volume is devoted to some of the most momentous international law issues faced by successive State Department Legal Advisers dating back to the 1970s. Created in 1931, the post of Legal Adviser to the Department of State brings … Read more »
That was the subject of a debate the other day put on by a group called Intelligence Squared–which was attended and summarized by Lawfare reader John Mattiace. Mattiace is an attorney practicing in New Jersey, who earned his J.D. from … Read more »
…is that of the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music–perhaps the building in the world that most resembles the towers. Built approximately ten years earlier by the same architect, Minoru Yamasaki, it is a kind of dry run for the World … Read more »
Unaccustomed as I am to praising the New York Times opinion pages for their handling of matters related to counterterrorism, my hat is off to them today for running as Op-Art this beautiful image, entitled “Exposure,” by photographer Annie … Read more »
The U.S. Court of Military Commission Review yesterday evening affirmed the conviction and life sentence of Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman Al Bahlul, an Al Qaeda media propagandist. I have not yet read the 139-page opinion, which is available here. … Read more »
A federal court in Washington ruled on Thursday that former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe enjoys residual immunity from being forced to testify as a witness in an Alien Tort Statute/Torture Victims Protection Act suit against Drummond Company. (Uribe had been … Read more »
Jonathan Hafetz, a habeas lawyer and law professor at Seton Hall University School of Law and the author of Habeas Corpus after 9/11: Confronting America’s New Global Detention System, writes in with the following in connection with Lawfare’s 9/11 … Read more »
Bobby shared yesterday the news that John Brennan has announced (courtesy of Josh Gerstein at the Politico) that the Obama administration would not send terrorist suspects to Guantanamo moving forward.
Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, the Somali terrorist suspect who was … Read more »
Check out this news story on yesterday’s court appearance by Ahmed Warsame. I’ve hammered on the New York Times editorial page for repeatedly–and erroneously–saying that non-criminal detention takes place outside the law. But here the news pages are doing the … Read more »
So says Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John Brennan, as quoted here by Politico’s Josh Gerstein. No word on whether this would be the administration’s position even if Congress had not imposed draconian restrictions on transfers … Read more »
Josh Gerstein at the Politico reports that the White House is threatening a veto of the House’s intelligence authorization act, which includes language requiring disclosure of information regarding detainees at Guantanamo, and Senate confirmation of the NSA’s director.
The Pentagon … Read more »
John Rizzo, former acting general counsel for CIA, writes in with the following in connection with Lawfare’s 9/11 10th Anniversary Project. This essay is adapted from a longer piece, entitled “9/11: Three Major Mistakes,” which … Read more »
Bruce Ackerman has an interesting piece at Foreign Policy this week, arguing that the “congressional resolutions authorizing combat in Afghanistan and Iraq no longer justify military operations in either country—or anywhere else.” Bruce concludes that President Obama is thus “moving … Read more »
In the Fall of 2002, a month or so after I started work in the Defense Department General Counsel’s office, I had a chat with Rear Admiral Michael Lohr, who at the time was the Judge Advocate General of the … Read more »
The appellant and appellee briefs for Alsabri v. Obama, a Guantanamo habeas case in the D.C. Circuit, are now available. You can read Ben’s thoughts on the District Court’s decision here and Bobby’s thoughts on the case here. … Read more »
Shane Harris, senior writer for Washington magazine and author of the The Watchers: The Rise of America’s Surveillance State, writes in with the following in connection with Lawfare‘s 9/11 10th Anniversary Project:
On September 11, 2001, I
Astute students of Lawfare’s layout may have noticed this morning that our sidebar has a new addition: An announcement that Lawfare is now a project of the Harvard Law School Brookings Project on Law and Security. The new project, … Read more »
My contribution to Lawfare’s 10th Anniversary Project concerns the role of the military in strengthening justice institutions in countries struggling to emerge from instability, a topic on which my personal and professional views have changed as a result of … Read more »
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
In one of the strangest stories I’ve come across in a long time—and there have been many—news reports say an FBI agent shot and killed an Orlando man with ties to deceased Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Ibragim Todashev was not suspected of playing a role in the bombings, but, during questioning, confessed nevertheless to playing a role in a triple homicide in the Boston area. After his confession, Todashev allegedly… Read more »
