Earlier this week—at the Week, naturally enough—Marc Ambinder posted this piece, ”Five Truths about the Drone War.” Of the five, the second of Ambinder’s verities struck me as most noteworthy. I’ve supplied the emphasis to Ambinder’s words:
2.
Wednesday on the Senate floor, three senators spoke about the Obama administration’s decision to prosecute, in a federal court, Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law and Al Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith. Republican Senators Kelly Ayotte and Lindsey Graham unsurprisingly opposed this … Read more »
The more I reflect on last week’s drone contretemps–and what effect the efforts of Senator Paul and his followers has had / may still have on U.S. policy–the more I have a profound and distressing sense of déjà vu. After … Read more »
[UPDATED 4:53]
Scott Shane, Mark Mazzetti, and Charlie Savage of The New York Times have this lengthy article on the hunt for Anwar Al-Aulaqi. Their piece describes, among other things, the legal analyses that approved of Al-Aulaqi’s killing.
Interestingly, the … 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
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 »
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 »
Congressman Mike Rogers, the Republican Chairmen of the House Intelligence Committee, revealed Sunday on Face the Nation much more than I had previously known about the nature and scope of congressional intelligence committee oversight of the drone program. He also … 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 »
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 »
Here’s a counter-intuitive view of the White Paper–from the always-interesting Andrew Kent:
Although many critics with a strong civil liberties and human rights bent deplore the DOJ White Paper for various reasons, there is actually something in there they should
John Yoo has a piece in the WSJ which argues that the real problem with the White Paper is that it extends due process protections to enemy combatants on the battlefield, thereby threatening to diminish due process at home:
The
The problems that Rick recently identified with how both the DOJ White Paper and its critics treat the concept of “imminence” — specifically, that they are borrowing a concept generated in a domestic law context that depends on a set … Read more »
I agree with Ben and Susan that there is little new of substance (but more detail) on imminence and other issues in the DOJ White Paper on targeted killing, and I said as much in my reaction to the White … Read more »
Okay, everyone, take a deep breath. Chill out. The DOJ’s “White Paper” on targeted killing is no big deal. Really.
You wouldn’t know this from reading the somewhat breathless press coverage of the document, much of which offers a reasonable … 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 »
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 »
Last week, my Brookings colleague Daniel Byman and I released our fun little Disposition Matrix App–on The Atlantic‘s web site. The rather surprising response—who knew that so many Americans were anticipating catching citizen terrorists and needing to … Read more »
Today, lawyers for Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, and other federal officials sued in their individual capacities, filed a motion to dismiss in the case of Al-Aulaqi v. Panetta et al. The defendants have asked the district court to throw … Read more »
I spent a flight out to Minnesota yesterday reflecting on Jack’s and Trevor’s discussion over the weekend of Obama’s first term, his coming second term, the Bush administration, and the now-will-never-be Romney administration. I agree with nearly everything both Trevor … Read more »
Writing at the New York Times web site, Eric Lewis of Lewis Baach, describes a human rights agenda for the Obama administration’s second term:
First, he must release certain Guantánamo detainees, who have never been charged or tried. Of
Friday, May 17, 2013
The Department of Justice’s Inspector General released an interim report on the Department’s handling of “known or suspected” terrorists who have entered the government’s witness protection program. The report found, among other things, that information on some program participants had not been turned over to no-fly list authorities; and, that two such people could not be located—though one… Read more »
