First, I objected to the large mischaracterizations in Senator Paul’s remarks, and think the ones about our targeting practices abroad were especially damaging. But there is no doubt that Senator Paul succeeded wildly in focusing public (and congressional) attention on … Read more »
The Washington Post, meanwhile, has this excellent editorial on Rand Paul’s filibuster and openness in the drone program:
AFTER SEN. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) held the Senate hostage Wednesday in order to warn that American citizens could be targeted by drone
Readers by now know this much: Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz harbor great anxieties about possible drone strikes against U.S. citizens on U.S. soil—chiefly against citizens who pose no imminent threat to our national security. And their concerns apparently … Read more »
I have held off for nearly 24 hours in writing up my thoughts about Sen. Rand Paul’s filibuster because I was trying to think of something to say beyond that this was a dumb publicity stunt. But here’s the problem: … Read more »
Senator Paul’s nearly 13-hour filibuster over domestic drone strikes and executive authority to kill U.S. citizens included both laudable calls for transparency and increasingly absurd—even damaging and distracting—hypothetical scenarios. Here is a non-hypothetical approach to confronting citizen-terrorists: The … Read more »
According to this Talking Points Memo piece, Attorney General Eric Holder today sent another letter to Senator Rand Paul, regarding the latter’s inquiries on the executive branch’s authority to conduct domestic drone strikes against U.S. citizens. The note seems … Read more »
As you no doubt already know, Kentucky’s junior Senator, Rand Paul, on Wednesday filibustered John O. Brennan’s nomination to be CIA Director for thirteen hours (with help, in part, from his Senate colleagues).
He commenced his marathon like so:
Madam
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 »
Jack is certainly right that Senator Paul “is painting a misleadingly very unattractive picture of the circumstances in which the United States uses drones abroad in words that will now be played around the world as credible statements of U.S. … Read more »
As the New York Times reports, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has been speaking on the Senate floor since before noon in an effort to filibuster the nomination of John Brennan, President Obama’s chief counterterrorism advisor and nominee to lead … Read more »
This week, Attorney General Eric Holder and DCIA nominee John Brennan both responded, separately and in writing, to Senator Rand Paul’s inquiry regarding the government’s authority to use lethal force against an American citizen within the United States, and without … Read more »
The following guest post is the latest in a series comprising a debate as to whether LOAC requires an attempt to capture rather than a first-resort to lethal force in some circumstances. The debate involves Professor Ryan Goodman, on one … Read more »
Now embeddable—at long last:
The following guest post is the latest in a series comprising a debate as to whether LOAC requires an attempt to capture rather than a first-resort to lethal force in some circumstances. The debate involves Professor Ryan Goodman, on one … Read more »
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 »
The House Committee on the Judiciary has released the written statements of its four witnesses for tomorrow’s hearing on “Drones and the War on Terror: When Can the U.S. Targeted Alleged American Terrorists Overseas?”
Below are brief excerpts from each … Read more »
The following is a guest post from Ryan Goodman, continuing a conversation begun yesterday in this post from Geoff Corn, Laurie Blank, Chris Jenks, and Eric Jensen.
What the Critics of the “Lesser Evil” Rule (Still) Get Wrong: A Rejoinder … 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 »
The following is a guest-post from Geoff Corn, Laurie Blank, Christopher Jenks, and Eric Talbot Jensen, responding to Ryan Goodman’s recent Slate article (building on his new European Journal of International Law article, which Jack noted here) in … Read more »
I noted last week than in his answer to the question whether the Obama administration could “carry out drone strikes inside the United States,” John Brennan gave this non-response: “This Administration has not carried out drone strikes inside the United … 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 »
Yesterday, the AP released an English translation of what appears to be a 2011 Al Qaeda tip sheet. (AP journalists evidently found the document in Timbuktu.) Its author, AQAP senior commander Abdullah bin Mohammed, catalogs twenty-two handy methods by … Read more »
For those who can’t get in to the Supreme Court oral argument in Shelby County v. Holder, and who aren’t otherwise enticed by the Journal of National Security Law & Policy‘s inaugural symposium, “Swimming in the Ocean … Read more »
Yesterday, as I noted in today’s news roundup, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan released its annual report on civilian casualties (defined as both direct and indirect deaths and injuries) in the conflict, and for the first time in … 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
Further to Jack’s post yesterday on the politics of drones versus enhanced interrogation, and my post earlier in the week about Peter Baker’s article about the mounting criticism of the Obama Administration’s counter-terror policies, comes this article by Sara Sorcher … Read more »
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 »
Recent events have accelerated a discussion focused around creating a special court to oversee the execution of targeted killings against suspected terrorists. Some Lawfare contributors have weighed in on the idea (see here for Steve’s argument against such a court, … Read more »
John Bellinger makes note in his post below that that Obama administration faces increasing organized NGO, activist-advocacy, and European pushback on drone warfare, and he cites today’s front page NYT story by Peter Baker that this essentially reprises the campaign … Read more »
There’s been a fair amount of buzz over the past few days centered around the idea of a statutory “drone court”–a tribunal modeled after the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) that would (presumably) provide at least some modicum of due … Read more »
Georgetown professor Anthony Clark Arend – old friend to many of us at Lawfare – has a new short post on whether judicial oversight of drones would be a good idea – or constitutional. He is skeptical on both … Read more »
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 »
There is an increasing amount of talk about judicial review for at least some decisions to place specific persons on targeting lists for the use of lethal force outside of a combat zone (drones are not the only platforms that … Read more »
Amid the flurry of writing about the White Paper’s approach to “imminence” – an important conversation, to be sure – little attention has been paid to a paragraph in the White Paper that seems to establish new parameters for the … Read more »
The central substantive issue, legally and morally, in the administration’s Targeted Killing White Paper is how the concept of an “imminent threat” should be understood. This is where much of the debate is going to focus. Already, outrage from American … Read more »
We don’t disagree with Jack that the filling in of details in the White Paper is important—and didn’t mean to suggest otherwise. But the importance Jack assigns to this aspect of the White Paper is decidedly not what has made … Read more »
There’s certainly a lot to say about the DOJ white paper on targeted killings, much of which has been said already (and well) by others (see Raff’s “Headlines and Commentary” post for links). At the risk of being unintentionally … Read more »
Michael Isikoff from NBC News has posted a copy of a 16-page DOJ “white paper” on the legality of targeted killings–especially vis-a-vis U.S. citizens. The memo itself is here; story here. I’m sure lots of folks (myself included) … Read more »
Daniel Klaidman, author of the indispensible Kill or Capture (providing an inside glimpse into the evolution of the Obama administration’s approach to counterterrorism in its first few years), today posted this profile of John Brennan in advance of his upcoming … Read more »
January 28, 2013: The United States signs a status of forces agreement with Niger “that clears the way for a stepped-up American military presence on the edges of the conflict in neighboring Mali,” and that portends a drone base in … Read more »
Jack and Ben have already flagged their entries in a Hoover Institution Task Force on National Security and Law series on national security challenges for the second Obama term (Hoover is adding one essay per day, all very short opinion … Read more »
I’m not sure what to make of this:
As I’ve just explained, a UN Special Rapporteur has launched an investigation into the legality of US and Israeli drone strike practices. The Special Rapporteur’s statement describing the investigation lists the … Read more »
[Update - I've clarified some points below, at the bottom, in response to reader feedback]
Ben Emmerson QC is a British human rights law specialist who currently serves as the UN Human Rights Council’s “Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human … Read more »
The Post ran an important story on Saturday, building on its earlier reporting concerning the development of a “disposition matrix” and other tools for the management of the counterterrorism enterprise. The new piece is by Greg Miller, Ellen Nakashima, and … Read more »
John Brennan, nominated by President Obama to become the next CIA director, will apparently face some tough questioning from Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) at his Senate confirmation hearings (reportedly set for Thursday, February 7, 2:30 pm). Sen. Wyden has sent … Read more »
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Leading the news: President Obama speaks today at the National Defense University on counterterrorism policy. Many are previewing the speech, including John. According to the New York Times’s Charlie Savage and Peter Baker, Obama will announce more stringent targeting criteria for non-battlefield strikes. This approach will govern the use of force against both citizens and non-citizens.
Here are the Washington … Read more »
