Harvard professors Gabriella Blum and Philip Heymann have a new, short article online at the Harvard National Security Law Journal (which, by the way, is doing many interesting things), Law and Policy of Targeted Killing (June 27, 2010). (A version of it will appear as a chapter in their forthcoming book on terrorism and counterterrorism.) […]
Archive | Targeted Killing
My House Testimony in “Drones II”
By Kenneth Anderson on June 3, 2010 12:37 pm in Counter-Terrorism Policy, International Human Rights Law, International Law, Targeted Killing, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
A Follow-on Drone Hearing
By Kenneth Anderson on May 1, 2010 11:10 pm in International Human Rights Law, Robotics, Targeted Killing, Uncategorized, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
The House Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, chaired by Rep. John Tierney, held a second hearing (Wednesday, April 28, 2010), once again on the topic of drone warfare. The first, held back on March 23, was focused on the technology of UAVs; this follow-up hearing was specifically about targeted killing and drone warfare. […]
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 […]
Drone Warfare: The Upbeat News About the Obama Administration
At least, peering through the lens of Tom Barlett, blogging at the Chronicle of Higher Education, peering through the further lens of the latest issue of Defining Ideas, a Hoover Institution publication that puts together various current articles and pieces from its community of fellows, typically reprinted from elsewhere or else excerpted. As Bartlett says: […]
Washington Post Editorializes in Praise of Harold Koh’s Drone Statement
By Kenneth Anderson on April 13, 2010 1:11 pm in Robotics, Targeted Killing, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
The Washington Post has an editorial today praising State Department Legal Adviser Harold Koh’s March 25 statement defending the legality of drone warfare (part of a long speech on several international law topics). The editorial specifically endorses the Legal Adviser’s invocation of self-defense as a separate ground for using force apart from armed conflict in […]
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 […]
Harold Koh Statements on Drone Warfare at ASIL Tonight
By Kenneth Anderson on March 25, 2010 11:43 pm in International Human Rights Law, Robotics, Targeted Killing, Terrorism, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
Update: I have had a chance to watch the video twice – I strongly recommend watching it, as it adds considerable language to the statements below in the press release. And welcome Instapundit readers and any others. Given how much I have pressed publicly for a statement by the administration’s lawyers, I want to say […]