Officials in the Obama administration have shown signs of discord in formulating national security policy. Different officials are approaching the government’s anti-terrorism policy from different angles, making it difficult for the Administration to find and maintain a consistent position. The division over counterterrorism strategy flared up most recently when Administration officials struggled with articulating the government’s position on the Belkacem […]

By Brian Itami, NSJ Staff Editor - On Wednesday, March 31, four past and current military lawyers participated in a panel at Harvard Law School entitled “The Indeterminacy of International Humanitarian Law”. The event, sponsored by the National Security Journal, the HLS International Law Society, the HLS Program on the Legal Profession, and the HLS Advocates for Human Rights, was […]

By Mary Ostberg, NSJ Staff Editor - On Wednesday, March 31st, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit’s Northern District of California, granted summary judgment for the plaintiffs in a suit against the U.S. government brought by the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation (“Al-Haramain”). The Oregon nonprofit corporation and two of its attorneys, Wendell Belew and Asim Ghafoor, […]

By Mat Trachok, NSJ Staff Editor - According to the Washington Post, White House advisers recently stated that alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) will most likely be tried before a military commission. However, the debate still rages. Last November, NSJ provided a brief overview of arguments for and against trying KSM in civilian courts. While many of the […]

By John Cella, NSJ Current Events Editor - A key component of the Obama administration’s fight against al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their affiliates has been the increasing use of drone strikes in Pakistan. In a speech on Thursday, State Department Legal Adviser Harold Koh provided the clearest articulation thus far of the Administration’s legal defense of such drone attacks, […]

By John Thorlin, NSJ Staff Editor - In Probing Secrets: The Press and Inchoate Liability for Newsgathering Crimes (in the Spring 2009 issue of the American Journal of Criminal Law) Professor William E. Lee of the University of Georgia examines the legality of soliciting or possessing classified information. The issue became a controversial one in the wake of the American […]

By Mary L. Cummings - As the director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Humans and Automation Laboratory, I was asked to comment from a technologist’s perspective at the recent symposium Drone Warfare: New Robotics & Targeted Killings on the panel “Unmanned Robotics & New Warfare.” My perspective is unique in that not only do I conduct millions of dollars […]

By Brett H. McGurk - Killer mechanical robots the size of flies, giant predator drones piloted from an iPhone, together with a new mode of warfare embraced by the U.S. military and both political parties in Washington. That is the upshot of the recent symposium – “New Robotics and the Legality of Targeted Killings” – hosted by the Harvard National […]

By Brian Itami, NSJ Staff Editor - It is increasingly likely that the U.S. government will use military commissions to help bring about the closure of its detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and to help resolve the question of what to do with the prison’s remaining detainees. As reported by the Washington Post on March 5th, President Obama’s advisers plan […]

As the intensity of the unacknowledged U.S. drone campaign against al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives in Pakistan has continued to increase throughout 2009 and into 2010, questions about the drone program have grown louder. To preserve the legitimacy and effectiveness of drones as an instrument of U.S. security policy, it is essential that government officials carefully evaluate and address the legal, […]