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 Stakes of al-Bahlul, Nine Months Later…
This past Monday marked nine months since the en banc oral argument in al-Bahlul v. United States, in which the D.C. Circuit is considering whether military commissions at Guantánamo…
Fifth Circuit on Extraterritorial Application of Fourth and Fifth Amendments
On the heels of this morning’s Fourth Circuit decision in the Abu Ghraib case comes another significant circuit-level decision–this one from the Fifth Circuit. The…
The importance (and difficulty) of the Stimson Task Force transparency recommendations . . . and a couple of legal corrections
Like Steve, I strongly recommend to Just Security readers the report on drone policy that the Stimson Task Force published yesterday. The report is very thoughtful and balanced,…
Analysis of the Stimson Drone Task Force Report
The Stimson Center Drone Task Force report published yesterday is a forceful critique of key aspects of current U.S. drone strike policy and practice. Importantly, and unlike…
Report and Recommendations from the Stimson Task Force on U.S. Drone Policy
Later this morning, the Stimson Center’s Task Force on U.S. Drone Policy is scheduled to formally release a report and series of recommendations to the Obama Administration…
You Can’t Have an “Associated Force” with No Core
There has been lots of commentary already on the newly-released (but heavily-redacted) OLC opinion, so I’ll focus mine on a key point I haven’t yet seen made. The OLC memo…
The OLC’s Drone Memo and International Law’s Ascendance
The long-awaited release of the redacted July 16, 2010 OLC memo is anticlimactic in important respects. Much is still unknown to the point that it is difficult, if not impossible,…
On the Benefits of Transparency: Why So Long to Disclose Drone Memo?
Monday’s release of the previously secret July 2010 Justice Department memo laying out the legal case for killing US citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, has sparked a wide range of reactions,…
Reflections on What the Drone Memo Does and Doesn’t Say
There is already a lot of commentary on the OLC drone memo, and likely more to come. Here, I just want to highlight three key issues that should be part of the mix: #1: Issues…
The Constitutional Question the Drone Memo Didn’t—and Couldn’t—Answer
Yesterday’s release of the Office of Legal Counsel’s “drone memo” (which, at some point, we should stop referring to in the singular) has provoked an understandable…
DOJ OLC Targeted Killing Memo Released
This morning the 2nd Circuit published a redacted version of the long-sought Department of Justice OLC memo that authorized the killing of U.S. citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki. We’ve…
Backgrounder for Release of OLC’s Targeted Killing Memo
As Jameel discussed in an important post—“The Drone Memo Cometh”—the Second Circuit appears poised to publish the Office of Legal Counsel’s memorandum on the targeted…