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
The government’s treatment of civilian casualties in counterterrorism operations [updated]
The government has just released two important documents. One is an assessment by the Director of National Intelligence of the cumulative civilian casualties from U.S. counterterrorism…
Medical Complicity in CIA Torture, Then and Now
The US government released a series of documents about the CIA torture program on June 14 and 15, in response to Freedom of Information Act lawsuits by the ACLU and Vice News.…
International & US Support for Transitional Justice Initiatives
My prior post discussed new policy papers on transitional justice issued by the US State Department and US AID. These policy papers reflect the fact that the United States’…
Troubling proportionality and rule-of-distinction provisions in the Law of War Manual
Oona Hathaway is absolutely right to be alarmed, and deeply concerned, about the “civilians’ assumption of risk” provisions in the new DoD Law of War Manual. If you haven’t…
A Less-Secret Drone Campaign
Stephen Whisler, Predators and Reapers 2012, pastel on paper This post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections” feature, in which a different Just Security editor…
The Upcoming Release of Obama’s Targeted Killing Policy and Casualty Numbers
The Obama administration says it plans to release a redacted version of the policy standards and procedures that govern its “use of force in counterterrorism operations outside…
The Law of War Manual’s Threat to the Principle of Proportionality
On Saturday, I had the honor of speaking to the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) USA General Assembly. In preparing for my talk last week, I came across a section of the US Defense…
The Obama Legal Team and the Lawfulness of Attacking Assad
Editor’s note: This post also appears on Charlie Savage’s blog Power Wars and Lawfare. Several prominent law professors who were formerly members of the Obama national security…
“Effective” Policy in Syria: Ambassador Robert Ford’s View
I wrote here yesterday in response to a post by Marty Lederman and Ashley Deeks about the recent, much-publicized dissent channel cable signed by 51 US diplomats. While my discussion…
The Early Edition: June 21, 2016
Before the start of business, Just Security provides a curated summary of up-to-the-minute developments at home and abroad. Here’s today’s news. IRAQ and SYRIA Just what has…
Another Legal View of the Dissent Channel Cable on Syria
Since Vietnam, East Pakistan, and the Balkans, it has been a time-honored tradition that State Department officials who disagree with official policy may challenge it through the…
“Material Support” and Targeting
Ken Watkin’s thoughtful piece last week — Reflections on Targeting: Looking in the Mirror — addressed the debate on the targeting of war-sustaining economic enterprises as…