My paper, Israel/Palestine — The ICC’s Uncharted Territory, has just been published in the Journal of International Criminal Justice. It explains that the International Criminal Court does not have jurisdiction over the oft-threatened and much-discussed Palestinian referral of Israeli settlements, despite the General Assembly’s recognition of Palestine as a non-member state. In brief, the relevant […]
Archive | National Security
Thanksgiving for Purported Pirates in Russia and the U.S.
By Eugene Kontorovich on November 28, 2013 8:00 am in Criminal Law, Federal Jurisdiction, International Law, National Security, Russia
It is a happy Thanksgiving for defendants in two very different piracy cases – the trial of Ali, a Somali education official arrested while attending an education conference in the U.S., and the crew of Greenpeace’s ship Arctic Sunrise, arrested by Russia last month while minding Russia’s business on an oil rig. I’ve written about […]
Why Engaging in More Counterterrorism “Capture” Ops Makes Them Less Feasible Over Time
By Kenneth Anderson on November 2, 2013 9:20 pm in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Drones (UAVs), National Security, Targeted Killing, Uncategorized, War on Terror
(Special note: Lawfare, where I serve as His Serenity, Book Review Editor, is absolutely delighted VC’s own Orin Kerr has agreed to post there when the Spirit of National Security Law moves him.) Over at Lawfare, I have a longish post about the declared US government policy of preferring capture operations over kill operations where […]
Two Posts at Lawfare
I recently mentioned how much I like the Lawfare blog. That post led to an invitation to write for Lawfare, and I’ve decided to post there on occasion on national security law issues. My tentative plan is to link to those posts from here when I do. In that spirit, here are my first two […]
Does Nigeria Share Responsibility for Pirate Attack on US Sailors?
By Eugene Kontorovich on October 24, 2013 10:24 am in International Law, National Security, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
Two Americans have been kidnapped off an oil supply vessel off of Nigeria by local pirates, according to breaking new accounts. Nigeria, like many nations, has been making it difficult for private security contractors to work off its shores. For example, it has recently arrested 15 Russian sailors from a ship operated by a security […]
Belgium’s Remarkable Capture of Pirate Ringleader
By Eugene Kontorovich on October 16, 2013 6:48 am in International Law, National Security, Uncategorized
Belgium has captured a senior Somali pirate kingpin in a remarkable operation. The leader of a pirate group, he had long been sought for hijacking a Belgian vessel in 2009. Now, undercover agents lured him and an associate to the Low Countries by pretending to be documentary film makers interested in making a movie about […]
Four Points on Syria
By Eugene Kontorovich on August 30, 2013 5:44 am in International Law, National Security, War and Armed Conflict
1. “Internal” Separation of Powers. Forget whether President Obama went through Congress, or the Security Council, or even our NATO friends. The real question is if the Administration wants to prevent atrocities in Syria, why turn to the Navy? Isn’t this the job of the Atrocities Prevention Board? 2. More Evidence of Evolution. Barack Obama […]
The Overcollection Problem Identified in the 2011 FISC Opinion
The FISC’s newly-declassified 2011 Opinion on the NSA’s implementation of Section 702 surveillance is both dense and fascinating. In this post, I thought I would just bring readers up to speed on the basic factual problem identified in the opinion (at least to the extent I can understand it). In later posts, I’ll consider the […]
The Administration of the “Least Untruthful Answer”
In an article titled “The Lies Aren’t What Makes Obama’s NSA Stance So Awful,” TNR‘s Jeffrey Rosen takes apart the legal justification for the NSA’s surveillance and data collection programs. (Orin discussed the relevant memos here.) The Obama administration’s 22-page White Paper setting out the supposed legal basis for NSA surveillance demonstrates that the Obama […]
The Problem With the Administration “White Paper” on the Telephony Metadata Program
On Friday, the Obama Administration released a “white paper” articulating its case for the legality of the NSA call records program under Section 215 of the Patriot Act and under the Fourth Amendment. I found the “white paper” a somewhat frustrating read, as it is essentially a brief for the government’s side with no brief […]
Former Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Responds to my USA Today Op Ed on Unanimous Supreme Court Decisions and Executive Overreach
By Ilya Somin on July 29, 2013 5:07 pm in Constitutional Law, Executive Branch, National Security, Supreme Court, War on Terror
Former Bush Administration attorney general and White House counsel Alberto Gonzales has written a response to my USA Today op ed on unanimous Supreme Court opinions and executive overreach. Gonzales largely agrees with my assessment of the Obama administration’s record, but – not surprisingly – he takes issue with my argument that Obama’s overreach was […]
The Bourne Implausibility: Movie Inspires Blog Post, Which Inspires Video, Which Inspires Blog Post
By Nick Rosenkranz on June 1, 2013 1:12 pm in Constitutional Law, Fifth Amendment, National Security, Popular Culture, Targeted Killing
Three months ago, under the heading “The Bourne Implausibility,” I offered up the following (wry?) observation: I just caught the last few minutes of The Bourne Ultimatum. At the end (spoiler alert), Bourne successfully exposes everything, and we catch a glimpse of MSNBC, reporting on a secret CIA assassination program “which in several cases may […]
Bill to Be Introduced to Increase Armed Services Committees’ Oversight Over Special Operations
By Kenneth Anderson on May 9, 2013 9:48 am in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Drones (UAVs), Military, National Security, Targeted Killing, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), member of the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, plans to introduce a bill that would increase Congressional oversight over kill-capture operations conducted outside of Afghanistan by the US military. University of Texas law professor Robert Chesney discusses the proposed legislation over at Lawfare, and gives a section by section commentary. Whether […]
The American Athens Becomes a Prison City
Two Chechen Islamist terrorists have succeeded in turning Boston, America’s cradle of liberty, into a prison. Just when we had gotten used to obscene lines and searches at airports as the price we pay for safety, the lockdown of Boston illustrates the extent to which civil liberties are at stake in the war on terror. […]
The Debate About to Heat Up Over HRW’s Call to Ban “Killer Robots,” AKA Autonomous Weapon Systems
By Kenneth Anderson on April 13, 2013 7:13 pm in Human Rights Watch, International Law, National Security, Robotics, War and Armed Conflict
(And: thanks to Instapundit for linking to the new policy essay by Matthew Waxman and me from the Hoover Institution, referenced at the end of this post, Law and Ethics for Autonomous Weapon Systems – thanks Glenn!) Last November, two documents appeared within a few days of each other, each addressing the emerging legal and […]