John B. Bellinger III is a partner in the international and national security law practices at Arnold & Porter LLP in Washington, DC. He is also Adjunct Senior Fellow in International and National Security Law at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as The Legal Adviser for the Department of State from 2005–2009, as Senior Associate Counsel to the President and Legal Adviser to the National Security Council at the White House from 2001–2005, and as Counsel for National Security Matters in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice from 1997–2001.
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The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing today on a new Authorization to Use Military Force Against terrorist groups.
Almost lost in the maelstrom of other news yesterday, the White House sent seventeen new Presidential nominations to the Senate, including the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division and four agency general counsels.
With six hours to spare before the 48-hour deadline in section 4 of the War Powers Resolution, the White House has sent the President's report to Congress on Thursday evening's missile attacks on Syria.
The text is here:
THE WHITE HOUSE
What legal authority for the use of force will President Trump assert for the missile attack against Syrian forces under domestic and international law?
The changes to the National Security Council—the removal of Steve Bannon and the subordination of the Homeland Security Advisor—appear to reflect an assertion of greater management authority by President Trump’s new National Security Advisor, H.R. McMaster.
The long-running Alien Tort Statute suit against Nestle, Archer Daniels Midland, and Cargill for allegedly aiding and abetting child slave labor in the Cote d’Ivoire—Doe v Nestle—has once again been dismissed.
Having been present at the creation of the Guantanamo Bay detention center in 2001/2002 and having supported its closure in 2009, I want to remind readers why Guantanamo was opened and why I believe it should now be closed.