Congress
Just Security’s expert authors offer analysis of U.S. Congress’ role in national security, foreign affairs, the rule of law, and rights. Coverage includes analysis and informational resources related to the legislative process, oversight and investigations of the executive branch, and major debates on the separation of powers and Congress’ constitutional role.
2,468 Articles
Closing Guantánamo: Before You Accuse Congress, Take a Look at Your Administration
Five years ago today, President Obama issued Executive Order 13567, which established the Periodic Review Board (PRB) process to review every “forever” detainee in Guantánamo…
Excellent summary of GTMO myths . . . and a classic case of the “false equivalence fallacy”
A while back I wrote here about how remarkably successful President Obama’s efforts have been to fundamentally transform, to the point of elimination, the U.S. practice of…
A Readers’ Guide to the Apple All Writs Act Cases
The last few weeks and months have been awash in media coverage of two cases before magistrate judges involving the federal government seeking to use the All Writs Act to compel…
[UPDATED] Magistrate Judge Orenstein’s order in the EDNY, denying DOJ’s All Writs Act request . . .
. . . is here. The order that the government requested the judge to issue would have required Apple to bypass the passcode security on an iPhone 5s (which used Apple’s iOS…
National Security-Related Congressional Hearings, February 29–March 4
Below is a calendar of congressional hearings on national security matters for this week. Tuesday, March 1 9:30am – Senate Armed Services – United States European Command (here)…
The State Department’s Records and Response Problems Are Not New, They’re Systemic
The State Department’s records management, FOIA compliance, and oversight responsiveness have endured withering scrutiny in court and on Capitol Hill since disclosure of Hillary…
House Judiciary Committee Hearing Tomorrow: Law Enforcement Access to Data Across Borders
Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee will be holding a “Hearing on International Conflicts of Law Concerning Border Data Flow and Law Enforcement Requests” — an issue…
Torture and Transparency in the Military Commissions
America’s war court is back in session at Guantánamo, with yet more pretrial proceedings in the case of the five 9/11 defendants (alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,…
Apple vs. FBI: “Just This Once”?
I wrote about the FBI’s attempt to force Apple to write an iPhone hacking tool for the bureau over at Time last week — and go read that if you’re getting caught up on the…
The President’s Plan for Closing the Guantánamo Bay Detention Facility
It’s here. The President proposes that once current transfer efforts are completed this year, the remaining 30 to 60 GTMO detainees ought to be detained in a U.S. facility. This…
Closing Guantánamo, Episode XXVIII: This Time, We Really, Really (Really!) Mean It…
Word has it that, later today, the Obama administration will release its long-ballyhooed Plan. To. Close. Guantánamo. (Not to be confused, mind you, with the original plan from…
National Security-Related Congressional Hearings, February 22–26
Below is a calendar of congressional hearings on national security matters for this week. Tuesday, February 23 9:30am – Senate Armed Services – US Pacific Command and US Forces…