Armed Conflict
Just Security’s expert authors provide analysis on the legal, policy, and strategic dimensions of armed conflict, including the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Hamas war, counterterrorism operations, conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, and other armed conflicts across the globe, with a focus on international humanitarian law, war crimes and accountability, mitigating and remedying civilian harm, and the humanitarian impacts of warfare.
3,526 Articles

Can Defense Counsel Ever Be Lawfully Surveilled by the Government?
David Luban’s essay (“Indefensible: Why Guantánamo defense lawyers can’t ethically participate any longer”) presents an excellent rendition of most of the ethics rules…

Cyber, Sovereignty, and North Korea–And the Risk of Inaction
Americans, and people throughout the world, are becoming increasingly aware that there are significant vulnerabilities in the Internet, and that there are malicious actors who…

Trump Should Release His New Lethal Force Policy
In an important new development, President Donald Trump has reportedly signed new rules for when lethal force can be used against suspected terrorists outside of active war zones.…

The Guantánamo Ethics Mess
The latest episode in the Military Commission’s efforts to try Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri for the U.S.S. Cole bombing is a dramatic dispute between Air Force Col. Vance Spath,…
Recap of Recent Pieces on Just Security (Oct. 21-27)
Russia Investigation and Facebook Ryan Goodman, Top Experts: Can Facebook Legally Disclose Russian Ads–What does the Stored Communications Act say? Artin Afkhami, Former Federal…

The Importance of Professional Expertise in Gathering Evidence of Mass Atrocities
Justice for core international crimes committed in places like Syria is currently non-existent. Yet, should our frustration with this lack of accountability lead us to alter widely-accepted…

Letter to the Editor: Finding a Middle Ground on “Areas of Active Hostilities”
News that the Trump administration is close to revising the Obama-era policy on direct action against terrorist targets has reawakened the long-simmering debate over the appropriate…

Episode 42 of the National Security Law Podcast: The Magic Bullet Travel Ban(d)
In this week’s episode, Bobby Chesney and I start with a close look at Smith v. Trump, a case that seeks a judicial ruling on whether the Islamic State really falls within…

The Women and Children Returning Home from the “Caliphate”
A new report on the Islamic State’s foreign fighters, released today by the Soufan Group, highlights an often overlooked population: the women and children who joined or were…

How We Persuaded 122 Countries to Ban Nuclear Weapons
On Oct. 6, the Geneva office of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) received a call from the Norwegian Nobel Committee: We had won the 2017 Peace Prize…

Amnesty Sets Out Key Principles on the Use of Armed Drones
There’s been a lot of discussion at Just Security about how international law applies to the use of armed drones, so I wanted to share here a new briefing paper that Amnesty…

NYU Law Forum: “National Security: The Role of Senior Advisers in the White House”
On October 18, the Latham & Watkins Forum at NYU Law presented discussion on “National Security: The Role of Senior Advisers in the White House.” Just Security…