As Professor Philip Alston’s report as special rapporteur to the UN Human Rights Council on targeted killings, drones, CIA and military, and related issues is released today, I’ve been asked by numerous people to comment on it. I’ve read it once, but need to finish re-reading it before I’m ready to say anything that goes […]
Archive | Counter-Terrorism Policy
Drone Warfare, the CIA, and Charlie Savage’s NYT Article
By Kenneth Anderson on May 28, 2010 6:42 pm in Counter-Terrorism Policy, International Law, Targeted Killing, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
Charlie Savage reports in the NYT today that Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial execution, will be coming out with a new report next week calling on the US government to withdraw the CIA from conducting drone strikes and giving it over to the US military instead. The article has an extended and […]
Clandestine Military Operations
By Kenneth Anderson on May 25, 2010 10:02 am in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Uncategorized, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
The New York Times, in a story by national security correspondent Mark Mazzetti today (Tuesday, May 25, 2010), reveals the contents of a September 2009 secret directive signed by General Petraeus ordering “broad expansion of clandestine military activity in an effort to disrupt militant groups or counter threats in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and other […]
The Bernardine Dohrn of the early 20th century: The terrorist professor at U of Texas law school
By David Kopel on May 24, 2010 3:56 pm in Academia, Congress, Constitutional History, Counter-Terrorism Policy, Criminal Law, Economic LIberties, Education, Guns, History, Law Schools, Legal Professor, Militia, Rehabilitating Lochner
My DU colleague Thomas Russell, who used to teach at the University of Texas Law school, has a written a paper, available on SSRN, which urges the University of Texas Law School to rename Simkins Hall, a law and graduate male student dormitory named for William Stewart Simkins. Simkins taught equity, contracts, procedure, and related topics at UT for […]
The Changing Conflict in Pakistan, and Targeted Killing
By Kenneth Anderson on May 20, 2010 12:26 am in Afghanistan, Counter-Terrorism Policy, Targeted Killing, War on Terror
Adam Entous, military affairs correspondent for Reuters, has authored, along with several colleagues, an outstanding, smart, balanced, and well-reported story on the evolution of drone warfare and targeted killing. A lot of reporting effort went into this story – this is not just an instance of a reporter being offered a little nugget of inside […]
Melded Approaches to Terrorism Detention and Trials
Rick Pildes and David Golove have a calm, reasoned discussion at Balkinization on ways to deal with terrorism related detentions and trials. They call for an approach that mingles aspects of criminal law and armed conflict law. They emphasize the need for a legislated system. (It is true, of course, that I am an […]
Continuity and Change in Detention Policy in Counterterrorism
Former DOS Legal Adviser John Bellinger has a short opinion column out at the Council on Foreign Relations site (corrected link, I hope!), discussing continuity and change in US detention policy on counterterrorism. John takes up a range of issues, from trials to repatriation and more, and concludes that there is mostly continuity with the second […]
Is Harold Koh’s Defense of Drones Also the Defense of Targeting a US Citizen?
By Kenneth Anderson on April 14, 2010 10:24 pm in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Targeted Killing, War on Terror
Adam Serwer, a journalist and blogger at the American Prospect, makes this observation in a very interesting post (linked in Robert Wright’s NYT Opinionator column) at the American Prospect Tapped blog (via The Progressive Realist): State Department Legal Adviser Harold Koh‘s speech to the American Society of International Law has mostly been read as a justification of […]
Acquiring UAV Technology
By Kenneth Anderson on April 9, 2010 9:50 pm in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Robotics, Targeted Killing, Uncategorized, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
I’ve noticed a number of posts and comments around the blogosphere on the spread of UAV technology. Which indeed is happening; many states are developing and deploying UAVs of various kinds. The WCL National Security Law Brief blog, for example, notes that India is now acquiring weaponized UAVs: India is reportedly preparing to have “killer” […]
Opinio Juris Discussions of Targeting of US Citizen
By Kenneth Anderson on April 7, 2010 8:35 pm in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Targeted Killing, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
Scott Shane’s report in this morning’s NYT on the Obama administration putting the radical cleric, but US citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, on the kill or capture list has stirred a lot of discussion. (Update: let me add Max Fisher’s Atlantic discussion as well.) Scott Shane: The Obama administration has taken the extraordinary step of authorizing the […]
Predator Drone Warfare – Assorted Links
By Kenneth Anderson on April 5, 2010 5:23 pm in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Robotics, Targeted Killing, Uncategorized, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
It’s not true that everything I do is about drone warfare, but it has taken a lot of my time lately and, of course, a lot of stuff is happening, both on the operational side as well as legal side. So here’s a little round-up of links, more or less at random. First, the New […]
Inside Baseball on Obama Legal Team Deliberations on National Security
By Kenneth Anderson on March 29, 2010 8:05 am in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Libertarianism, Robotics, Targeted Killing, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
Over at Opinio Juris, Julian Ku points to today’s front page NYT story by Charlie Savage detailing secret memos and meetings among the leading lawyers seeking to address national security and terrorism issues, including detentions, drone strikes, the question of armed conflict, and other things. In my posts, I have been focused on the question […]
Assassination, Self-Defense, and the Koh Speech
By Kenneth Anderson on March 28, 2010 5:30 pm in Counter-Terrorism Policy, International Law, Robotics, Targeted Killing, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
(Note: I started composing draft posts about Harold Koh’s important ASIL speech, particularly its discussion of drones and targeted killing, and concluded it would be better not to do a post that would turn into an online article, but instead some shorter posts on particular issues, even if they are somewhat random.) Toward the end […]
Drone Warfare Subcommittee Testimony, Up at SSRN
By Kenneth Anderson on March 27, 2010 2:45 pm in Counter-Terrorism Policy, International Law, Robotics, Targeted Killing, Terrorism, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
After getting a number of email requests for this testimony, I’ve posted it up for convenience at SSRN, although it is also available through the hearing page as well. I submitted along with it my earlier Weekly Standard article, Predators Over Pakistan. As I have said here earlier, however, this hearing on March 23 came […]
Benjamin Wittes Comments on His AQ7 Letter at The New Republic
The excitement over the AQ7 ad put out by Liz Cheney’s organization has died down, but Ben Wittes has this very interesting piece up in The New Republic extending discussion of the letter that he drafted, signed by a group of conservative and centrist folks criticizing it. I was one of the signers, and wound up […]