By Jordan Myers - Congress is taking the first step to increase oversight of the much-debated missile defense programs via new spending regulations in the proposed defense appropriations bill. The Senate Armed Forces Committee inserted language requiring the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to report baselines for individual projects. The proposed language would require the MDA […]
Recent Arrests Highlight al-Shabaab’s U.S. Recruitment Efforts
By Brian Itami, NSJ Senior Editor - Over the last week and a half, at least fourteen Americans were detained on terrorism charges in the United States and Yemen in two separate incidents. Law enforcement officials arrested Mohamed Alessa and Carlos Almonte on Saturday, June 5 at John F. Kennedy Airport as the two allegedly […]
A Tale of Two Bases: The Future of Okinawa and Sevastopol
By John Thorlin, NSJ Digest Editor - On June 2, 2010, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama resigned. Though he poetically (or just strangely) claimed that a Japanese songbird he had seen during a recent trip to Korea had signaled to him that it was time to go, the real driving force behind the move was […]
FISA’s Significant Purpose Requirement and the Government’s Ability to Protect National Security
By Scott J. Glick* - Click here for the published PDF version In 2006, Congress enacted two potentially significant restrictions on the government’s ability to collect foreign intelligence information pursuant to FISA. Against the backdrop of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (Court of Review) decision that arguably reached an erroneous conclusion about the […]
An Evolution of Judicial Pragmatism: Analyzing the D.C. Circuit’s Ruling in the Bagram Detainees Case
By Daniel Jacobson - On May 21, 2010, in Al Maqaleh v. Gates, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit unanimously reversed a previous district court ruling and held that there was no jurisdiction to hear the petitions for habeas corpus relief of three detainees being held at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. The three […]
Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks: Operationalizing the Law of Armed Conflict in New Warfare
By Laurie Blank* and Amos Guiora** - Click here to download the published PDF version Gone are the days of soldiers facing each other across large battlefields, tanks shelling tanks, and fighter jets engaging in dogfights. War, or armed conflict, to use a more precise legal term, now takes place everywhere — in cities, refugee […]