This time last year, we posted a readership survey that a larger number of Lawfare readers were kind enough to fill out. The results were extremely helpful, so we thought we’d do it again. We very much appreciate your taking … Read more »
Over the next few weeks, we will be starting our rollout of the Lawfare Wiki Document Library. The library will have many facets, and we will be introducing it piece by piece, sometimes page by page. The first page, a … Read more »
This morning, I posted a link to a new article I have written with Stephanie Leutert about our efforts to edit the Wikipedia page on “lawfare.” The article describes how a volunteer Wikipedia editor named “ElijahBosley” removed all of our … Read more »
A few months ago, I was asked to give a talk at the Pentagon on the concept of lawfare. I opened it with a story about how some months earlier I had tried had tried to edit the Wikipedia page … Read more »
I am delighted to announce the appointment of Lawfare‘s first managing editor: Wells C. Bennett.
Wells is already well-known to Lawfare readers; he has spent the past year as our special correspondent and was a contributor to the site … Read more »
Over at the CQ Weekly, Tim Starks has written a mini-profile of Lawfare. It opens (warning: paywall):
When the House Judiciary Committee summoned experts in February to testify about the legality of drone strikes on U.S. citizens, all
I’m happy to announce a new experimental feature on Lawfare–a weekly digest of our posts. I have received a lot of complaints in recent months that during heavy-blogging weeks, Lawfare‘s feed can be overwhelming. Because of the volume … Read more »
Lawfare‘s Trevor Morrison has been appointed the next dean of NYU Law School. NYU is gaining in Trevor one of the very best scholars, teachers, colleagues, and leaders I know. Congratulations, Trevor!
Congratulations to Lawfare’s very own Steve Vladeck who, in his day job as professor and associate dean for scholarship at Washington College of Law, American University, has just been awarded the 2013 “University Faculty Award for Outstanding Scholarship, Research, Creative … Read more »
Administrative note: Amazon.com has released a service allowing blogs to install a “Send to Kindle” button on posts that, well, does more or less what it sounds like. I have installed it, because I know that many Lawfare readers use … Read more »
The historic resignation of Pope Benedict XVI last week causes me to recall the involvement of the Office of the Legal Adviser in a lawsuit against the Pope.
Pope Benedict XVI was sued in the Southern District of Texas for … Read more »
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 »
Despite the unsurprising focus on domestic policy in President Obama’s second inaugural address today, his speech was not entirely devoid of national security issues. “We will defend our people and uphold our values through strength of arms and rule of … Read more »
Many Lawfare readers have probably seen notices or reviews of Max Boot’s brand-new book on the history of guerrilla warfare, Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present (WW Norton 2013). Lawfare will certainly … Read more »
Three more new additions to the Lawfare news feed:
I have added several new feeds to the Lawfare News Feed:
My excitement over Shane Harris’s new blog, Dead Drop, provides a catalyst for an action I have been meaning to take for some time: creating an automated page on Lawfare for outside news feeds of particular value for Lawfare … Read more »
Just in time for the start of spring semester at law schools everywhere, here is our invitation to help us build up our Wiki Document Library!
The next big phase of Lawfare expansion involves the creation of a large document … Read more »
I am delighted to announce that Ashley Deeks is joining Lawfare as our newest senior contributor. Astute readers will notice that this change is perhaps a bit less of a change than it may look, as Ashley has long been … Read more »
I tend to think of the Lawfare year as corresponding with the academic year, since Lawfare was born in September 2010, and its annual cycle thus corresponds roughly to the beginning of the fall semester. The mental construct is a … Read more »
For reasons we have not yet been able to determine, Lawfare has been down for the past few hours—since right around 10:52 am. Our apologies for the interrupted access to the site. For those of you who are wondering, we … Read more »
If you’re a regular Lawfare reader and Facebook user, and you haven’t yet “liked” our Facebook page, please do us—and yourself, and your Facebook friends—a favor and do so. In fact, do one better and “share” the Facebook page … Read more »
By now, I suspect, most readers will have noticed our new news ticker, which appears just below “Today’s Headlines and Commentary” at the top of our sidebar. The ticker itself requires no explanation, but our planned use of it does … Read more »
The Lawfare Wiki Document Library wants you!
The next big phase of Lawfare expansion involves the creation of a large document library—a kind of one-stop-shopping for primary source material in the field of national security law. We are building this … Read more »
No, it wasn’t a cyber-attack. I was doing some work on the Wiki Document Library and accidentally password protected the entire site. Thanks to those of you who brought this to my attention, and apologies to all whose access to … Read more »
Particularly astute readers who have been carefully combing the site over the past five minutes may have noticed that our “search” bar has changed subtly and now includes check boxes that allow users to search either the Lawfare “site” or … Read more »
Well, that didn’t take long. Yesterday, I posted a wiki job board on Lawfare so that people who are hiring in the field of national security law could reach those looking for work in the field. I expected that eventually, … Read more »
People looking to hire in national security law often send us job announcements to post, and folks looking for jobs frequently get in touch thinking—usually wrongly—that we can help. We should do more to connect these groups of people. So … Read more »
My post about the possible use of Facebook’s Comment utility on Lawfare has generated no particular groundswell of either enthusiasm or opposition. But the Lawfare Ruling Triumverate has decide that it sufficiently changes the technological landscape that it is worth … Read more »
As most readers of Lawfare are aware, we have a strict no comments policy on this blog. I have publicly defended this policy against criticism, promised it would never change, and have even made a video about how much … Read more »
Yes, Lawfare is two years old today. I could get very maudlin on this occasion, but I’ll refrain–and just thank our readers, who continue to shock me with their loyalty, engagement, and their constant flood of ideas, tips, corrections, arguments, … Read more »
Last night and this morning, I did a little tinkering with Lawfare‘s social networking features–which actually drive a good deal of traffic to the site. According to Google Analytics, Facebook is far and away Lawfare‘s biggest single source … Read more »
Thanks to all who asked to be counted as regular Lawfare readers. The results of this tiny little survey have been helpful and illuminating–though they are admittedly somewhat tentative. Because I put this survey up in August, when large … Read more »
My recent joking exchange with readers about Arlington VA’s Lawfare traffic masks a reality I have decided to take decisive action to change: We don’t know how many people read Lawfare.
Thanks to Google Analytics, we have a very … Read more »
I just received the following email from Air Force General Counsel Charles A. Blanchard in response to my correspondent from San Francisco, who had hypothesized that West Coast Lawfare readers might be too technologically sophisticated to show up in … Read more »
I just received the following email from a loyal reader in the Bay Area complaining about the manner in which Google Analytics counts readers:
I write in the spirit of the age-old outraged reader–though my particular complaint concerns a
Here’s a fun—and strangely evocative—factoid about Lawfare’s readership.
Over this site’s nearly two years of existence, our readership has been heavily concentrated in Washington DC. Seventeen percent of our visits, according to Google Analytics, have come from Washington—more than … Read more »
I just received a very interesting email from Major John Harwood, USAF, whom I met recently at the MILOPS Conference in Singapore, in response to my post this morning about the coming Drone Smackdown:
I love the Drone Smackdown,
Just in time for next week’s motions hearing in United States v. Al-Nashiri: an experimental tweak to the blog’s military commissions coverage.
We at Lawfare aim to please, as you know, and some readers have critiqued our blow-by-blow, he-said-she-aid … Read more »
Visits: 1,001,291
Unique Visitors: 493,318
According to Google Analytics, we are closing in fast on our one millionth visit and our half-millionth unique visitor.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to fill out our readership survey. Nearly 300 people did so, and the result is a rich dataset of feedback, suggestions, concerns, criticism and gratifyingly, a great deal of enthusiasm about Lawfare. … Read more »
My personal favorite response to our reader survey came from a “government lawyer” in response to our question of whether we should make Lawfare-branded merchandise available. “You are right to be sensitive,” wrote this person. “It is in bad … Read more »
For those who may have missed this, I’m moving it back to the top of the blog. The more responses we get, the more useful it will be.
We’d love to get feedback on the site. We’d also like to … Read more »
According to iTunes, “We have not received enough ratings to display an average for [The Lawfare P]odcast.” This seems like a problem that listeners who access the podcast through iTunes ought to fix.
Come on, guys!
A great many thanks to everyone–and there were a lot of you–who sent me thoughtful comments, criticisms, and praise concerning our military commission coverage in response to my request of yesterday. Here is what I have learned–and what I … Read more »
I’m stoked to announce an exciting change in Lawfare‘s staffing. Wells Bennett, who has long been a Contributor to the site, is becoming a Special Correspondent, having left his law firm to devote himself full time to blogging and … Read more »
We are delighted to announce three important new voices joining Lawfare‘s cadre of senior contributors. All are well known to readers of this blog and bring a wealth of experience in different aspects of the field of national security … 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 »
