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.
4,757 Articles
Questions to Investigate U.S. Drone Strike in Kabul: An Alleged Killing of 10 Civilians
We drafted dozens of specific questions for Congress, reporters, and investigators to ask.
Paradigm Shift: The Consequences of Choosing a War Path, and Leaving It
We owe it to the next generation to grapple now with the consequences of remaining at war -- as well as the consequences of choosing not to be -- lest we find ourselves reflexively…
Crossing Back Over: Time to Reform Legal Culture and Legal Practice of the “War on Terror”
As the conflict has grown and changed, responsibility for these changes has too often been thrust on the shoulders of executive lawyers.
Two Decades Later, Still Reckoning With 9/11
On the 20th anniversary, experts disagree on how the most complex problems that dogged the “war on terror” should have been solved.
Immigration Policy Before and After 9/11: From the INS to DHS – Where Did We Go Wrong?
Creating DHS, escalated the adversarial approach to immigration by blurring the lines between national security and immigration enforcement.
Oh, the Humanity
Reviewing Samuel Moyn, Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, September 2021), 416 pp. Samuel Moyn’s new book…
Islands of Advances in a Sea of Setbacks: Central American Rule of Law
The Biden administration’s promise to attack the root causes of migration from Central America just got harder to keep.
The Legacy of 9/11: Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism Spotlights and Blind Spots
(Editor’s note: This essay is part of a Symposium published for the twentieth anniversary of September 11th; co-organized by Just Security and the Reiss Center on Law and Security.)…
The Forever War on the Homefront
Military families have lived with the direct impact of “forever wars” for 20 years and will continue to do so for a lifetime. War is not something you can take off and hang…
The Costs of 9/11’s Suspicionless Surveillance: Suppressing Communities of Color and Political Dissent
The domestic intelligence system has grown dramatically since 9/11, often targeting Muslims, people of color, and political movements. It's time to rethink the system.
Five Principles to End the Forever War
A comprehensive and detailed guide to ending the Forever War and enhancing American security.
Afghanistan: A Tragic Lesson of the US Military’s Flawed Approach to Capacity Building
To avoid failing in other counterterrorism training missions, the US needs to invest in and empower assessment, monitoring, and evaluation.