I’m very excited to join the Lawfare team. As a first post, I’d draw readers’ attention to Jack’s Washington Post op-ed, in which he discusses how candidate Romney might to try to differentiate himself from President Obama on counterterrorism … Read more »
Sometimes my friends ask me “how bad is it really?” How bad is the cyber threat? It’s hard to answer that question — and its even harder when the experts can’t reach a consensus. It would be almost impossible to … Read more »
Congratulations to the Harvard National Security Journal for a fruitful conference yesterday on the covert action and the law. It was an intensive seminar all day long on the domestic and international law issues surrounding all things covert, and special … Read more »
From over at Volokh. Kerr also links to this piece in the Washington Post by Charles Lane.
Amanda Jacobsen, a lawyer for Abu Zubaydah, has this oped in the Washington Post complaining that her client–and the government officials responsible for his detention and interrogation–have never faced charges: “We must ask why no charges have been brought against … Read more »
Greg Miller of the Washington Post has this excellent profile of Roger, the enigmatic head of the CIA Counterterrorism Center and a principle architect of the drones program. Money quote:
Roger, which is the first name of his cover
The more I think about Attorney General Holder’s defense of targeted killings in his speech @ Northwestern last Monday–and the various reactions thereto–the more confused I become. To be sure, this confusion may merely be a testament to my … Read more »
My former colleagues on the Washington Post editorial page have weighed in quickly on Eric Holder’s speech yesterday with an editorial entitled, “It’s Time to Release the Drone Memos.” The gravamen of the editorial, as the title suggests, … Read more »
In today’s Washington Post, Peter Finn has an excellent story on the comparative leniency of sentencing in military commissions to date compared with sentencing in federal court. In it, he reports the following comment from Human Rights Watch:
Human
Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post reports that the White House thwarted NSA attempts to seek legislation that “would have required hundreds of companies that provide such critical services as electricity generation to allow their Internet traffic to be continuously … Read more »
The Kiobel case will be argued next Tuesday before the Supreme Court. I have an op-ed in today’s Washington Post (headlined in the print edition “A Noble Cause That Goes Too Far”) about the foreign policy tensions caused by extraterritorial … Read more »
In a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, seventy percent of respondents (including a majority of self-identified liberal Democrats) said they approve of keeping open the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, and 83 percent (including 77 percent of liberal Democrats) said … Read more »
The lead editorial in the Washington Post today, just adds to the political salience of the cybersecurity issue. Calling the existing status quo “unacceptable” the Post lends it support to the Senate bill (now dubbed Lieberman-Collins-Rockefeller-Carper) in advocating a new … Read more »
Very interesting Washington Post article on this sentencing memorandum filed by the Justice Department in the Abdulmutallab case. As Peter Finn of the Post describes it,
The memo, released Friday ahead of the sentencing next week of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab,
As Ben pointed out yesterday, the Washington Post report about the possibility that non-Afghan detainees held at Parwan will be repatriated to their home countries is significant news. Apart from its import for U.S. detention policy generally, the development, if … Read more »
This story in today’s Washington Post won’t get the attention it would garner if it dealt with Guantanamo, but put it in the category of Very Important if True. According to Post reporters Peter Finn and Julie Tate,
The Obama
Here is my contribution to the Guantanamo birthday festivities–an oped in the Washington Post that opens:
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the opening of the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the hand-wringing is
Lawfare readers who followed our coverage and analysis of the al-Aulaqi drone strike last fall (archived here) may be interested to see the UK House of Commons Library’s recently released research briefing on the matter (with citations including … Read more »
I’m taking a break from de-ornamenting my Christmas tree (or, more accurately, spreading an astonishing number of dried-out pine needles around my living room) to draw attention to this very interesting piece from Greg Miller at the Washington Post (assissted … Read more »
I had an op-ed over the weekend arguing that last week’s Defense Department report to Congress – which announced for the first time a policy of using offensive cyber weapons in response to threats or uses of significant cyber weapons … Read more »
Greg Miller of the Washington Post has an important story this morning addressing the possibility that the original al Qaeda network is but a drone strike or two away from eradication:
The leadership ranks of the main al-Qaeda terrorist network,
The eight Republican candidates for president will gather tonight for their trillionth twelfth debate at 8 PM tonight, in an event that will focus on national security and foreign policy. The Post has an article on some of the things … Read more »
Earlier this year, Judge Walton denied a pair of motions to dismiss in the civil suit filed by Moe Davis against the Librarian of Congress and the Director of the Congressional Research Service (“CRS”). Davis, who previously served as chief … Read more »
The Washington Post has a story this afternoon in which the Air Force confirms that it is operating armed Reaper drones out of a particular location in Ethiopia. It is an interesting contribution to the larger, ongoing story of America’s … Read more »
An interesting story in the Post this weekend draws attention to the fact that about 7,000 detainees currently are held without criminal charge in various locations throughout Libya, and with varying degrees of accountability to the transitional government authorities. The … Read more »
The Washington Post reports that the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel wrote a classified legal opinion in support of the al-Aulaqi killing. Carrie Budoff Brown* at Politico reports that former U.S. Representative and intelligence committee member Jane Harman says … Read more »
Here is an op-ed I have written for Monday’s Washington Post on the likely international reaction to the killing of al-Awlaki.
With respect to US law, I have noted previously that if Congress becomes concerned about the targeted killings of … Read more »
Greg Miller has a story for the Washington Post discussing the al-Aulaqi strike from the perspective of CIA-military “convergence.” It’s a topic near and dear to my heart. ’m close to finishing off a lengthy article titled “Military-Intelligence Convergence and … Read more »
Yesterday, the New York Times reported that Samir Khan, a 25-year old U.S. citizen from North Carolina, was killed in the same drone strike that targeted Anwar al-Aulaqi. According to Foreign Policy, Khan “helped create the media architecture of … Read more »
The Washington Post leads this morning with a story headlined “Secret U.S. Memo Sanctioned Killing of Aulaqi,” which opens:
The Justice Department wrote a secret memorandum authorizing the lethal targeting of Anwar al-Aulaqi, the American-born radical cleric
I often disagree with Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen, but this column strikes me as right on. Thiessen bewails the lack of serious debate in the Republican primaries on national security issues, and he suggests a series of questions the … Read more »
Greg Miller and Julie Tate have a remarkable story in the Washington Post this morning (and if my local paper the Austin American-Statesman is any indicator, also on the front page of a whole lot of other papers around the … Read more »
That’s what somebody in the government is saying today, on reading this Washington Post story about a contract dispute between two aviation companies involved in CIA renditions–a dispute that seems to involve airing a lot of material in public. Money … Read more »
The Washington Post has an interesting article this morning on a website that posts rankings of hackers. The concept is that hackers earn points based on level of difficulty of the hack, as well as the identity of the targeted … Read more »
In kicking off Lawfare’s 9/11 10th anniversary project devoted to laying bare our own non-trivial errors of analysis or understanding over the last decade, I have a number from which to choose. All, however, pale in comparison to my vacillations … Read more »
Thomas Drake, the former NSA employee who was charged with leaking classified information, in a case that collapsed last month, has this oped in the Washington Post today. Money quote:
From 2001 through 2008, I was a senior executive at
In prior posts such as this one, I’ve noted that the United States eventually will transfer control over the Detention Center in Parwan to Afghan authorities. The most recent goal for that transfer was January 2012, but that goal … Read more »
The discussions of drone strike decision-making in Warrick’s The Triple Agent sheds light on the proportionality debate in several respects.
First, the book is shot through with references to the concerns that CIA Directors (first Hayden, then Panetta) have with … Read more »
Joby Warrick (of the Washington Post) provides a number of fascinating nuggets regarding CIA activities in Pakistan in his just-published book The Triple Agent: The al-Qaeda Mole Who Infiltrated the CIA, which I strongly recommend. I’m not aware of … Read more »
The Washington Post is reporting, in what is hardly a surprise, that we shouldn’t expect the United States to give up the Bagram detention facility any time soon:
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — The United States will remain in control
As Raff notes, the Washington Post has an editorial this week drawing attention to the important case of Ali Mussa Daqduq, the Lebanese Hezbollah commander who entered Iraq to participate in the insurgency, who allegedly orchestrated the execution of … Read more »
The Washington Post’s Ellen Nakashima is reporting:
A leading computer security firm has used logs produced by a single server to trace the hacking of more than 70 corporations and government organizations over many months, and experts familiar with
The Washington Post reports this morning that JSOC recently carried out a drone strike in Somalia, targeting two al-Shabab leaders. The piece emphasizes that the Administration has recently highlighted al-Shabab in public statements, warning that al-Shabab is growing increasingly focused … Read more »
Senator McConnell has an op-ed in the Washington Post sharply criticizing the Obama administration for pursuing a civilian court prosecution of two Iraqi men who were arrested in Kentucky recently on charges of involvement in and ongoing support for the … Read more »
Charlie Savage reports this morning: “Since the United States handed control of the air war in Libya to NATO in early April, American warplanes have struck at Libyan air defenses about 60 times, and remotely operated drones have fired missiles … Read more »
The Washington Post and NPR report that the 13-year old case against Osama bin Laden has been dismissed.
The Post says that:
The government filing lists bin Laden’s alleged crimes, and then states: “On or about May 1, 2011, while
A series of articles over the past few days have discussed plans for the CIA to operate armed drones in Yemen, where U.S. armed forces already have been using lethal force against AQAP targets (cruise missiles, missiles from piloted aircraft, … Read more »
The Washington Post has this editorial on American Al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn’s recent message:
THERE MAY NEVER be a better spokesman for closing the gun show loophole than Adam Yahiye Gadahn.
A 32-year-old American and convert to Islam, Mr. … Read more »
Several pieces in the news today may be of interest to Lawfare Readers.
The Washington Post reports on the Pentagon’s list of critical cyber-weapons:
The Pentagon has developed a list of cyber-weapons and -tools, including viruses that can sabotage an
Last Thursday the Washington Post editorial page opined that President Obama should either seek congressional authorization for the military actions in Libya, or “should inform Congress and the public about his intention of going forward with the campaign, openly challenge … Read more »
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
William P. Barr (former Attorney General), Jamie S. Gorelick (former Deputy AG), and Kenneth L. Wainstein (former Assistant AG for National Security) have this Times op-ed on the AP subpoena controversy. They write:
While neither we nor the critics know the circumstances behind the prosecutors’ decision to issue this subpoena, we do know from the government’s public disclosures that the prosecutors were right to investigate this leak
