Executive Branch

Just Security’s expert authors provide analysis of the U.S. executive branch related to national security, rights, and the rule of law. Analysis and informational resources focus on the executive branch’s powers and their limits, and the actions of the president, administrative agencies, and federal officials.

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Captain Jay Baker, of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, speaks at a press conference on March 17, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Lack of Officials’ Cultural Competency Will Hamper Hate Crimes Laws

"Given the ways in which anti-Asian stereotypes, stigmatizing rhetoric, and caricatures have been culturally tolerated, there is much more that needs to be done to increase cultural…
Secretary of State Blinken stands a podium in front of American flags.

Full Burial Now Needed for Executive Order Against International Criminal Court

"Executive Order 13928 requires a burial so deep, so final, that never again will the United States, nor any other country, deem it a permissible policy option."
Exterior View of the new International Criminal Court building in The Hague on July 30, 2016 in The Hague The Netherlands.

BREAKING: Biden Revokes Executive Order Sanctioning Int’l Criminal Court Principals

Beth Van Schaack lauds the development and puts it in context of other human rights developments.
Troops stand in lines with their hands behind their backs. U.S. Special Operations Forces and Mozambican leaders stand in front of the troops giving instructions as part of a two-month Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) training program.

Getting US-Africa Relations Back on Track With a Focus on Human Rights

The Biden administration needs to ensure that solutions it offers for the continent's challenges are Africa-led, inclusive, multilateral, and multifaceted.
Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar visits the construction site of a field hospital to house coronavirus patients in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 23, 2020.

Amid Palestinian Election Plans, Time to Challenge Hamas?

A new approach to longstanding Quartet conditions for recognizing any Palestinian government might incentivize Hamas to move away from violence.
U.S. President Joe Biden, without a face mask, and U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, with a face mask, participate in a virtual meeting with leaders of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue countries March 12, 2021 at the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC.

Why Biden Needs to Rescind Trump’s ICC Sanctions Now

A deadline looms in the case challenging executive order 13928, which imposed sanctions against the ICC. Will the Biden administration defend the former administration’s reckless…
A folio lays and a dark surface. The front page reads, “FARA and 951 Presentation and Roundtable June 29, 2017.”

In Absence of Foreign Agents Registration Reform, DOJ Tweaks Could Make a Big Difference

Its core obligations have not been comprehensively updated since the 1960s. Until they are, the executive branch could address key shortcomings.
A medical doctor wearing a mask representing Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez takes part in a protest in Tegucigalpa on September 11, 2020, amid the new coronavirus pandemic. The doctor carries a 3-D coronavirus model in one hand and a sign in another hand.

To Combat Central America’s Bad Governance, Biden Can’t Just Throw Money at the Problem

The $4 billion in US aid will have to be carefully managed, and could be leveraged to combat the corruption and impunity that drives so many to migrate.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland addresses staff on his first day at the US Department of Justice in Washington, DC on March 11, 2021.

How Attorney General Garland Can Strengthen FOIA Implementation

Here's what Attorney General Garland's department-wide memorandum on the Freedom of Information of Act should look like.
Supporters of the Yemeni Huthi rebels take to the streets of the capital Sanaa to protest against the blockade imposed on their country by the Saudi coalition, on February 26, 2021. An overpass and the street leading into it are packed with protestors. Side streets are lined with cars and buses blocking the way.

Biden Says He Wants to End the Yemen War: These Should Be His Next Steps

A fair and just UN-led peace process requires the Saudis to end the blockade and the Security Council to replace an outdated resolution on the war.
Smoke rises from tires burning at barricades erected by protesters after military junta forces attempted to attack them on March 16, 2021 in Yangon, Myanmar.

No Military Solutions: A New Approach to Preventing Atrocities

To be a credible proponent of peace, the US must shed destabilizing security ties and unneeded military capabilities, and invest in conflict prevention.
Aerial view of the financial centre of Panama City taken on April 25, 2019. Areas with tress and shorter buildings are nestled between the skyscrapers.

The Fight Against Kleptocracy Should Look Beyond the West

Efforts that help constrain the enabling environment for corruption in the West do not sufficiently tackle how foreign authoritarian actors turbocharge kleptocracy and the role…
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