Benjamin Wittes is a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he co-directs the Harvard Law School-Brookings Project on Law and Security. He is the author of several books and a member of the Hoover Institution's Task Force on National Security and Law. For speaking information and for a larger collection of his work, see his Full bio »
That’s right… Henry V. Royal Shakespeare Company he’s not, but here’s the junior senator from Texas’s rendition (pun intended) of the St. Crispin’s Day Speech—and his explanation of how it relates to the domestic killing of Americans using drones … Read more »
I don’t normally—or ever, really—write posts based on law firm press releases. But I’m going to make an exception this time for this announcement by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe about Robert Loeb:
Washington, D.C., – Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
Over at the Lawyers, Guns, and Money blog, Robert Farley has an interesting post taking me to task for ignoring the siege of Harfleur in my discussion of Henry V and the law of armed conflict. Farley quotes the lengthy … Read more »
Carrie Cordero, Georgetown’s Director of National Security Studies and a former Justice Department official, writes in with the following useful compilation of administration warnings about the effects of sequestration on national security:
One might think it would have been
The other day, Steve wrote a post noting a letter from habeas counsel at Guantanamo to the effect that “all but a few” detainees are currently on hunger strike to protest searches and confiscations and alleged abuses of the Quran. … Read more »
A few months ago, I attended a robotics conference in Edina, Minnesota, invited by a gentleman named Andrew Borene, who helped organize it. There were a lot of impressive robots at the conference. But in many ways, the one that … Read more »
Laurie Blank, the director of Emory Law School’s IHL clinic, writes in with the following comments on Henry V and the law of armed conflict:
I just saw your post about Henry V and LOAC. The play is indeed
Now embeddable—at long last:
I went to see a wonderful performance of Henry V this afternoon at the Folger Shakespeare Library—and I came away thinking about the law of armed conflict. I have wondered about early literary invocations of the laws of war before … Read more »
Here it is, from Aaron Zelin of Jihadology.
Speaking of Wired Danger Room, check this out: A robotic dog that tosses cinderblocks around with its head. Spencer Ackerman explains:
Flesh-and-blood dogs merely fetch. The robotic pooch that Darpa funded can throw.
Boston Dynamics’ BigDog started life
Just read this uplifting story from Wired Danger Room:
Late last year, a group of 3-D printing gunsmiths developed a key component for an AR-15 rifle that anyone with a 3-D printer could download and make at home. The
NSA General Counsel Rajesh De gave the following address at Georgetown Law School on Wednesday:
Remarks of
Rajesh De, General Counsel, National Security Agency
Georgetown Law School, February 27, 2013
(as prepared for delivery)
Thank you for the introduction and
Over at Washingtonian’s new Dead Drop blog, Shane Harris has this fascinating piece, mining a just-released book for new information about the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping activities. Here’s how it opens:
More than a decade after the 9/11 terrorist attacks,
Over at at the Emptywheel blog, Ms. Wheel colorfully asks of yesterday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing: “Boy, what fucking idiots run DOJ (and, presumably, the Obama Administration generally)”? She goes on, marveling at the administration’s stupidity for refusing to … Read more »
Over at Slate, Torie Bosch has an interview with a cyborg about, well, cyborg rights. It’s very interesting, and it goes to an issue I’ve been thinking about for a while. We think of cyborgs as inherently requiring … Read more »
Over at Forbes.com, Greg McNeal takes a break from guest blogging for Lawfare to body slam Human Rights Watch over its “killer robots” campaign. Last week, I published a grass roots letter from Human Rights, along with Tom Malinowski’s … Read more »
The thing kind of speaks for itself:
Rep. Louie Gohmert: Thank you Mr. Chairman, and this is an exceedingly important topic. We do appreciate your being here today. Obviously the Justice Department folks are busy doing something more important
Over at Rolling Stone, John Knefel pans the House Judiciary Committee hearing today for being too Lawfare-heavy:
The House Judiciary Committee held a full member hearing today on when it is acceptable for the government to designate a
In writing my testimony for today’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on drones and targeted killing of U.S. citizens overseas, I found myself writing a more complete explication of the essential legal rationale underlying the administration’s position on the subject than … Read more »
Peter Margulies of Roger Williams School of Law writes in with the following comments on yesterday’s Clapper decision:
The Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday in Clapper v. Amnesty International reads at first like a substantial narrowing of standing doctrine. However, closer
Just what you need in life: Your very own cybernetic cockroach. Now, thanks to the folks at an outfit called “Backyard Brains” (“Neuroscience for Everyone!”), you can have one.
No, I am not making this up. It’s the Roboroach, … Read more »
Several years ago, in a prescient op-ed in the Washington Post, our colleague John Bellinger argued that the September 2001 AUMF was an increasingly poor fit for the evolving threats facing the United States. It is a theme to which … Read more »
Gregory McNeal of Pepperdine University School of Law has been doing fascinating research on the actual processes U.S. forces use in targeting. Most recently, he’s been working on the actual processes by which the United States “nominates” targets for … Read more »
I’m not a big fan of the law review article as a form. But every now and then, one comes along that is genuinely important, that sheds new and interesting light on an important issue, that cuts through the unilluminating … Read more »
This very interesting Mandiant video shows how Advanced Persistent Threat 1 conducted hacks against targets.
With Abraham Lincoln back in the news, the Federal Judicial Center has posted a series of neat documents about the suspension of habeas corpus and the Ex Parte Merryman case. Here’s a brief history of the case. Here’s an … Read more »
According to the FAA, you can’t fly the Parrot AR Drone 2.0 in the D.C. Flight Restricted Zone. But just guess where this picture was taken.
According to a correspondent who prefers to remain anonymous but who recently passed through … Read more »
The House Judiciary Committee has released the witness list for its coming, February 27 hearing on ”Drones and the War On Terror: When Can the U.S. Target Alleged American Terrorists Overseas?” Careful Lawfare readers just might notice a … Read more »
A few weeks ago, Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch had a thoughtful and serious—if sometimes playful—exchange with Matt, Ken, and me over fully autonomous weapons systems. But there seems to be another, less serious, side of Human Rights Watch’s … Read more »
Chicago lawyer Pejman Yousefzadeh writes in, at my request, with the following thoughts on teaching students to counter cyber threats using the ancient strategic game of Go. Pejman, who writes a very interesting blog, generously over-imagines my skill at … Read more »
From Stars and Stripes:
If “Guantanamo Prisoners to Receive GI Bill Benefits” sounds like a joke… that’s because it is. But the headline on the popular satirical military news site The Duffel Blog alarmed one Kentucky resident
Paul and Ritika have already linked to the Mandiant report yesterday on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army cyber espionage group known as Unit 61398. It’s a very impressive document. Here is the executive summary, for those who want more than … Read more »
As the co-creator of the Lawfare Drone Smackdown and the publisher (though not the baker) of this drone strike cake, I should perhaps check myself before cringing at other people’s drone humor. But I can’t help but ask at … Read more »
Over at the emptywheel blog, Ms. Wheel (aka Marcy Wheeler) has done a handy side-by-side of Attorney General Holder’s Northwestern speech and the leaked White Paper. The document comes as part of this post, pointing out that the … Read more »
Carrie Cordero, Georgetown’s Director of National Security Studies and a former Justice Department national security official, writes in with the following thoughts on the FISA Court and its lessons for a possible “Drone Court”:
The debate that has played
I’m not sure if this is by accident or on purpose, but the New York Times yesterday proposed advanced judicial review of a huge swath of targeting in warfare against terrorist groups.
Consider the first paragraph of yesterday’s Times editorial, … Read more »
My Brookings colleague Allan Friedman, a cybersecurity expert, sent me the following brief note following the State of the Union and the concurrent release of the president’s executive order on cybersecurity:
Why use the executive, rather than relying on legislation?
Ever since I wrote my post yesterday morning about how people were over-reading the imminence language of the White Paper, I have received a number of emails and tweets and comments suggesting that I am under-reading it. Then I got … Read more »
My colleague at Brookings, Daniel Byman, and I have written a lengthy paper on the different tools the United States uses in going after citizens abroad believed to have allied themselves with the enemy. The paper is still a draft, … Read more »
A few weeks ago, I wrote in a brief essay published by the Hoover Institution, in which I posed the following question: “How long do we really think it will take before a gun enthusiast arms a remotely-piloted robotic … Read more »
I received an email yesterday responding to Susan and my post, in which we suggested that that the White Paper had little new in it. Specifically, the email argued that Susan and I had understated the degree to which … Read more »
Herb Lin of the National Research Council has just published an informative, brief article entitled, “Defining Self-Defense for the Private Sector in Cyberspace.” It’s a good primer on active cyberdefense. It opens:
It is the United States’ stated
For those of you who have spent the weekend wondering what the next administrative change at Lawfare is going to be, wait no more. The advent of the Lawfare News Feed has made our news ticker (the rolling headlines that … Read more »
This came in via Twitter today, from Lawfare reader and former Brookings intern, Meaghan Maher.
Speaking of the John Brennan confirmation hearing, here’s the video, courtesy of CSPAN:
John Bellinger and Christoper Anders of the ACLU this morning had a discussion of John Brennan’s testimony, drone strikes, and the administration’s legal positions on CSPAN’s Washington Journal this morning. Please note which web site a CSPAN banner referred readers … Read more »
NPR’s Weekend Edition ran the following extended interview with me this morning on the subject of drone strikes, the White Paper, and the administration’s legal views more generally. It isn’t anything new to Lawfare readers, but Scott Simon and the … Read more »
U.S. CANCELS REGULAR DRONE STRIKES ON SATURDAYS
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Citing budgetary concerns, the United States announced today that it would discontinue regular Saturday drone strikes on U.S. citizens, beginning in 2014.
In
Friday, May 24, 2013
Coverage of President Obama’s speech yesterday is plentiful: Here are Peter Baker of the New York Times, Karen DeYoung and Greg Miller of the Washington Post, and Mark Mazzetti of the Times with an analysis of the key points of the speech. Scott Wilson of the Post also provides a rundown of the speech, and cites Ben. The Associated Press reports on lifting the transfer ban on Yemeni detainees, and Colleen McCain Nelson, Adam Entous, and Julia E. Barnes… Read more »
