Judge Garland’s persuasive opinion in the ACLU FOIA case is important but narrow, and its significance for intelligence community transparency is entirely unclear.
Recall that the CIA had refused to respond to the ACLU request for records pertaining to drone … 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
Ben Emmerson, the Special Rapportuer for Human Rights who is conducting an inquiry into the legality of (among other things) U.S. drone strikes, and who has suggested that the United States might have committed war crimes, has told Spencer … Read more »
I am puzzled by two news reports on USG cyber policy in the last few days. This AP story from Friday surprised me for what it revealed about the lethargic U.S. reaction to the now-many-years-old problem of Chinese cyber exploitations … Read more »
To considerable fanfare, departing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey announced this week the decision to lift the ban on woman serving in combat units. Panetta stated: “General Dempsey and I are pleased to announce … Read more »
The Sunday NYT story on the French intervention in Mali noted that the United States had long trained Mali forces but had also long believed that “a Western assault on the Islamist stronghold could rally jihadists around the world and … Read more »
Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta delivered a wide-ranging address on December 18, 2012 at the National Press Club in Washington DC on the United States’ overall national security strategy. The speech was part valedictory lap prior to Panetta stepping … 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 »
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s speech last week on cyber is more significant than has been reported. Most of the coverage focused on Panetta’s grave warnings about cyber threats facing the nation, but the speech’s real significance, I think, concerns … Read more »
Here’s a transcript of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s speech yesterday on cybersecurity in New York:
Remarks by Secretary Panetta on Cybersecurity to the Business Executives for National Security, New York CitySECRETARY OF DEFENSE LEON E. PANETTA: Thank you. Thank
“How the hell can we run sensitive operations here that go after enemies if people are allowed to do that?,” asked Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, on CBS, in response to the revelations about the Bin Laden mission by … Read more »
The government has filed its brief in opposition to the plantiffs’ motion for a permanent injunction–and seeking dismissal of the case. The brief opens as follows:
Defendants Barack Obama,Leon Panetta, and the Department of Defense (collectively, the “government”) respectfully
I have now read through the ACLU-CCR lawsuit on behalf of the Al-Aulaqi and Khan families. Here are my initial thoughts:
First, this lawsuit does not suffer from the prohibitive standing problem that plagued these groups’ earlier efforts to block … Read more »
Earlier this week, Kevin Jon Heller and I had an exchange over what the Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA, Akhil Afridi, was actually charged with and convicted of. Writing at Opinio Juris, Kevin dismissed suggestions by Secretary of … Read more »
Over at Opinio Juris, Kevin Jon Heller has a post complaining about Leon Panetta’s recent lament that “[i]t is so difficult to understand and it’s so disturbing that [Pakistan] would sentence this doctor to 33 years for helping in … Read more »
The other day, I received the following email from Army Colonel Scott Malcom of United States Southern Command concerning an exchange of letters between the president of the American Bar Association and the Commander of Southern Command over Guantanamo attorney-client … Read more »
Peter Feaver has an insightful post at Shadow Government concerning yesterday’s exchange between Secretary Panetta and Senator Sessions regarding the administration’s position on whose authorization it must or should obtain before using military force in Syria. The exchange was very … Read more »
The Senate’s new NDAA language changes almost nothing. Yes, there are some technical adjustments, which Bobby has described in detail, and some of these may serve to lessen slightly the irrational burden this bill would put on those who … Read more »
On Tuesday, the Senate Armed Services Committee passed a new version of the controversial detainee provisions to be included in the National Defense Authorization Act for FY ’12. The text is here, thanks to Josh Gerstein at Politico, and … Read more »
Yesterday Harper’s ran a piece by Daniel Swift on drones, criticizing the extensive but selective leaking of details about the CIA drone program. It’s a fair point, resonating with Ken Anderson’s concerns regarding the legitimacy issues that arise with … Read more »
The invaluable Josh Gerstein of the Politico offers these important pieces of the legislative politics puzzle surrounding the Kelly Ayotte amendment, which I wrote about here and here:
The vote, taken just after 1 a.m. Friday, broke largely along
The Kelly Ayotte amendment I discussed yesterday was voted down late last night, reports the Associated Press:
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted early Friday to reject a Republican effort to prohibit the United States from prosecuting foreign terrorist suspects
Back in June, I posted the appeal of Jose Padilla and his mother in a civil case against a group of current and former Defense Department officials. The case, which made a variety of constitutional claims in connection with Padilla’s … Read more »
When the Secretary of Defense declares, as Leon Panetta recently did, that the strategic defeat of Al Qaeda is “within reach,” it is probably time to start thinking about the termination of hostilities for purposes of AUMF detention authority. … Read more »
I join Ben in welcoming Marty Lederman back to blogging. His initial post–parsing both international and domestic legal issues relating to the UBL operation–is typically thorough and insightful (not to mention generally correct). Because it is a long post, … Read more »
Director Panetta appeared on PBS Newshour yesterday, and spoke to the question of whether this was a situation in which SEAL Team Six was merely to use force as a last resort in self-defense. As Ben notes below, Panetta … Read more »
Lawfare reader Matthew Ing writes in with the following:
I’ve been a dedicated reader of the Lawfare Blog since its inception. I recently read with interest your Lawfare post, “What Would Mary Ellen O’Connell Do?“ Apparently, she has … Read more »
As Bobby mentioned, I’m giving a keynote address at noon tomorrow at American University’s Washington College of Law on the question, “The Guantanamo Detainees, What Next?” In that speech I will try, among other things, to assess the significance … Read more »
Bet you weren’t expecting CIA Director Leon Panetta to say this:
If the U.S. captures top al-Qaida leaders Osama Bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahiri, they would likely be sent to the Guantanamo Bay military prison, CIA Director Leon Panetta
Jack has already posted the government’s brief in opposition to the ACLU’s and CCR’s request for a preliminary injunction and in support of its motion to dismiss. The government, however, filed some other interesting documents along with this lengthy brief. … Read more »
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 »
