Guantanamo
Moral Obtuseness, Guantanamo, Boko Haram, and the Media
Benjamin Wittes, Andy Wang Tue, Jan 20, 2015, 6:18 PM
This morning's BBC’s NewsHour show opened with a news judgment reflecting a genuinely odd moral calculus.
Andy is an associate at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer and a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, where he was President of the Harvard National Security and Law Association and a Senior Articles Editor of the Harvard National Security Journal. Prior to law school, he interned for the Hudson Institute's Center for Political-Military Analysis, the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida, and the Baker Institute for Public Policy. Andy received his B.A. in political science and history magna cum laude from Rice University.
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Internet Metadata Collection
The NRC's Bulk Collection Report: a High-Level Overview
Andy Wang Tue, Jan 20, 2015, 3:00 PM
Last week, Wells noted the release of an important, 85-page report by the National Research Council. (Yesterday, Herb Lin added his thoughts about it.) Broadly, Bulk Collection of Signals Intelligence: Technical Options concludes that right now, there are no software-based techniques that could fully replace the bulk collection of data. Below, I offer a high-level, general overview of this and other main takeaways from the report.
Cybersecurity: LOAC-Military
The FBI Impersonates the Media: Some of the Rules Governing Cyber-Subterfuge
Andy Wang Fri, Nov 7, 2014, 2:54 PM
The developing story of the FBI’s impersonation of journalists is, in a way, really the story of Timberline high school in Washington State. In June of 2007 Timberline had received a series of bomb threats, prompting a week of evacuations. The FBI and local law enforcement traced the problem to an anonymous account on the MySpace social media site. But the trail seemed to stop there, as investigators were unable to ascertain the identity of the person or persons behind the account.
International Law
CVSG in Samantar v. Yousuf
Andy Wang Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 12:00 PM
Yesterday, the Supreme Court asked for the views of the Solicitor General in Samantar v. Yousuf.
Surveillance
The Fox-DOJ Subpoena Fight: A Summary in Documents
Andy Wang Sun, Oct 12, 2014, 10:03 PM
In July 2009, Mike Levine, a reporter for Fox News, broke a story about federal prosecutors secretly filing terrorism charges against a group of Somali-Americans in Minneapolis who were recruited to join Al Qaeda-linked groups in Somalia. Levine’s story was based on confidential information leaked to him by various unidentified government officials.
Surveillance
NSA Report on Civil Liberties and Privacy Protections under EO 12333
Andy Wang Wed, Oct 8, 2014, 4:00 PM
In January 2014, the NSA’s Civil Liberties and Privacy Office (CLPO) was created. The CLPO was tasked with ensuring that civil liberties and privacy protection considerations are integrated into the NSA’s mission activities. Yesterday—and importantly, given the disclosures about NSA surveillance, and subsequent developments—the CLPO released its Report on Civil Liberties and Privacy Protections for Targeted SIGINT Activities under Executive Order 12333.
Terrorism Investigations: Domestic
Will the Supreme Court Take Up Mehanna?
Andy Wang Mon, Sep 29, 2014, 7:30 AM
Does translating “radical” Arab texts and videos amount to material support for terrorism? That is the question that would face the Supreme Court, should they decide to take up Mehanna v. United States. (For full background and facts on the case, see our extensive prior coverage here.)