Civil Liberties
1,368 Articles
Guest Post: NSA Reform — The Consequences of Failure
If you were expecting this to be a detailed post-mortem on the demise of the USA Freedom Act, you will be disappointed. As others have covered that ground, I want to focus on the…
Clarity or Confusion? General Comment 35 and Security Detention
I’d like to raise a few issues about security detention that Shaheed Fatima didn’t cover in her thoughtful posts (here and here) on the Human Rights Committee’s (HRC) new…
Transcript: The US Appearance Before the UN Committee on the Convention Against Torture
Below is a transcript of all national security issues discussed during the US delegation’s appearance before the UN’s Committee on the Convention Against Torture, prepared…
Takeaways from the House Intelligence Committee Cybersecurity Hearing
On Thursday morning, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence held a hearing on “Cybersecurity Threats: The Way Forward,” featuring testimony by Adm. Michael Rogers,…
The Hicks Military Commission Appeal
Just over a year ago, I wrote a post about the David Hicks and Omar Khadr cases–and the very real possibility that, as a result of the D.C. Circuit’s decision in “Hamdan…
There Will Be Surveillance Reform
How should we understand the Senate’s failure to pass the USA Freedom Act on Tuesday? I’m not sure. But I’m pretty sure it’s misguided to propose, as Steve Vladeck did…
UN HRC’s General Comment on the Right to Liberty and Security: A Missed Opportunity? (Part Two)
Yesterday’s post provided a brief guide to the UN Human Rights Committee’s General Comment No. 35 (GC) on Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political…
UN HRC’s General Comment 35 on the Right To Liberty and Security: A Missed Opportunity?
On October 28, the UN Human Rights Committee adopted General Comment No. 35 (GC) on Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the right to…
The End of the Snowden Affair
Sometime around 7:30 p.m. (EST) last night, the 17-month-long national conversation over how to reform U.S. foreign intelligence surveillance authorities effectively ended when…
Full Virginia State Court Opinion on Passcodes vs. Fingerprints
A couple of weeks back, there was a flurry of media coverage of a Virginia state court opinion where the judge granted an order to compel a defendant’s fingerprint to unlock…
The FBI Doesn’t Need More Access: We’re Already in the Golden Age of Surveillance
This post comes in advance of this afternoon’s debate between Just Security contributors Andrew Weissmann and Peter Swire about Law Enforcement vs. SmartPhone Encryption at…
The Surveillance State’s Legalism Isn’t About Morals, It’s About Manipulating the Rules
Margo Schlanger has written a great article forthcoming in the Harvard National Security Journal about intelligence legalism, an ethical framework she sees underlying NSA surveillance.…