Armed Conflict
Use of Force
823 Articles
Philip Bobbitt’s War Without Tears
In times of war, it’s sometimes said, the laws fall silent—but the laws, and the human rights lawyers who would enforce them, are still faintly murmuring, and these faint murmurs…
“Applying the Law of Targeting to the Modern Battlefield” – Full Speech Given by DOD General Counsel Jennifer O’Connor
Below is the speech, “Applying the Law of Targeting to the Modern Battlefield,” given by Jennifer O’Connor, general counsel of the Department of Defense, tonight…
The ACLU Goes to War
The Drone Memos collects important memoranda from the Justice Department, addresses by Barack Obama, John Brennan, Harold Koh, Eric Holder and others, executive orders and various…
Questions for the Defense Department’s General Counsel
On Monday, Nov. 28 at 6 p.m., Jennifer O’Connor, general counsel of the Department of Defense, is giving a talk at NYU School of Law on “Applying the Law of Targeting to the…
Smith v. Obama: The Political Question Doctrine Misapplied
Having joined The Constitution Project in an amicus brief in Smith v. Obama, I am disappointed the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia decided to dismiss the case…
Trump’s Whistleblowers—Whether Limited Pardons for Manning and Snowden Makes Sense Now
Whatever you might have previously thought about the notion of President Barack Obama pardoning Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, the election of Donald Trump changes everything.…
US Transparency Regarding International Law in Cyberspace
Last Thursday, State Department Legal Adviser Brian Egan, delivered an important speech at Berkeley Law School on the relationship between international law and cyber activities. …
Donald Trump’s Drone War
My new book, The Drone Memos, will be published by The New Press today. The Guardian is running a 4000-word slice of the 20,000-word introduction on its website this morning. The…
The New Western Counter-Terror Wars: Toward US-European Convergence?
As Iraqi and other forces move forward with their long-awaited offensive to recapture Mosul from ISIS, Western airpower is playing an essential supporting role. The United States,…
Letter to the Editor: Syria and the “Implicit Consent” Myth–A short reaction to Ford (and Goodman)
In a recent post on Just Security (available here), Chris Ford raises the issue whether the Syrian government may or may not have ‘implicitly’ or ‘tacitly’ consented to…
10 Questions to Ask Yourself When Reading Jameel Jaffer’s “The Drone Memos”
Jameel Jaffer’s new book, The Drone Memos: Targeted Killing, Secrecy, and the Law, will be published on November 15, and hard copies will also be available at Just Security’s…
The Drone Memos—The Book
My new book, The Drone Memos, will be published on November 15. It’s a collection of the most important legal and policy documents relating to the U.S. drone campaign, preceded…