Drones
A New Drone Use We Can All Support?
Paul Rosenzweig Tue, Sep 13, 2016, 11:25 AM
Latest in Drones
Drones
Defining Legal/Policy Deviancy Down? An Alternative View of the PPG
Charles Kels Tue, Aug 23, 2016, 10:05 AM
I agree wholeheartedly with Ben Wittes and Marty Lederman that there are very few new revelations in the just-declassified Presidential Policy Guidance (PPG) on direct action against terrorist targets, at least compared to what was already known from the previousl
Drones
Presidential Accountability for Capture and Kill Operations Under the PPG
Benjamin Wittes Mon, Aug 8, 2016, 2:00 PM
I have now read through the newly-declassified PPG on direct actions, the so-called "Playbook" for drone strikes from May 2013.
Targeted Killing: Drones
President Obama's Executive Order on Pre/Post Airstrike Policies and Practices
Robert Chesney Fri, Jul 1, 2016, 2:55 PM
Hot off the press: The new Executive Order concerning pre-strike and post-strike practices and policies is here, ODNI's release of aggregate casaulty information is here, and the official fact sheet concerning them both is
Drones
Shift to JSOC on Drone Strikes Does Not Mean CIA Has Been Sidelined
Robert Chesney Thu, Jun 16, 2016, 2:29 PM
Greg Miller has an interesting and seemingly quite well-sourced article in the Washington Post today documenting (and offering explanations for) a significant decline in CIA drone strikes. To be clear, the claim is not that drone strikes on the whole are in decline.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)
Has the U.S. Quietly Ramped Up the Air Campaign Against AQAP in Yemen?
Robert Chesney Fri, Jun 3, 2016, 4:22 PM
CENTCOM has just released a summary of publicly-acknowledged airstrikes conducted against AQAP targets in Yemen over the first five months of 2016. The list includes three strikes from February and March that were not previously acknowledged, interestingly, and there is no guarantee that there are not others of that kind still awaiting public disclosure.
2001 AUMF
Mullah Mansour as a "Continuous" Threat: Was the AUMF Strictly Necessary?
Robert Chesney Mon, May 23, 2016, 11:45 AM
The DOD airstrike that may have killed Taliban leader Mullah Mansour is interesting, from a legal perspective, at many levels.
Drones
Drones and the “Internet of Things-Style Surveillance Network”
Jack Goldsmith Mon, May 2, 2016, 7:20 PM
Nextgov reports that the State Department has put out a request for information for a wireless intrustion detection system that the story describes as an “Internet of Things-style surveillance network.”
Foreign Policy Essay
A Categorical Error: Rethinking 'Drones' as an Analytical Category for Security Policy
Dave Blair Sun, Apr 24, 2016, 10:00 AM
Editor’s Note: What is a drone? Some do surveillance, others hunt terrorists, and some models likely to enter air forces are more akin to sophisticated fighter aircraft. Dave Blair, badass warrior intellectual, argues that lumping these many different systems together under the label “drone” confuses more than it enlightens. It makes more sense, he contends, to focus on the mission set rather than the engineering behind it.
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"All models are wrong, but some are useful."
Drones
Killer Finnish Chainsaw Drone and the High-Tech Weapon that Takes it Down
Benjamin Wittes Tue, Apr 5, 2016, 2:39 PM
Excellent! Make sure you watch to the end to see the countermeasures that defeat this menace.