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

Shifting Contours, But the Same Solution: Swiftly Returning to the Iran Nuclear Deal
While the landscape between Iran and the United States has changed dramatically over the last few months, the solution to Iran’s growing nuclear stockpile and increasing tensions…

Blinken Sails Through Queries on Iran, China, Russia, NATO, and More in Secretary of State Confirmation Hearing
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Republicans and Democrats alike were mostly welcoming as they probed his approach to the world's trouble spots.

Salvaging US Refugee Law in 2021: The Case for Tackling the Problem of Discretionary Asylum
Our statutes improperly give U.S. government officials broad discretion to deny asylum even to those who are determined by the government to face persecution in their home countries.

On Biden’s Planned Summit: Humility, Not Hubris, Can Save Democracy
The voices of those who have suffered most from democracy’s ills are crucial to understanding – and addressing -- the impact of backsliding laws, policies, and institutions…

Toward A More Responsible US Arms Trade Policy: Recommendations for the Biden-Harris Administration
Biden pledged a foreign policy that would restore U.S. moral leadership. Ending U.S. complicity in human rights abuses, civilian harm, and humanitarian crises through the structural…

What Should Be Addressed in Austin’s Confirmation Hearing for Defense Secretary?
Some of the top defense experts and thinkers offer their thoughts on what issues they’d like to see addressed and what questions they’d like to see asked at retired Gen. Lloyd…

US Human Rights Policy: How to Really Build Back Better
The Biden administration must create a system in which human rights and democracy policymaking is embedded and integrated in its decision-making machinery.

MLK Believed “No Justice, No Peace”
Arguments that the protests over the killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and countless others betray King’s legacy are not only in bad faith, but plainly wrong.

Ousted Autocratic Presidents and Their Backers in the Legislative Branch
Machinations of hardliners from Sri Lanka to Hungary, Colombia and more signal the trouble Trump and his supporters could make for the Biden administration.

What Should Congress Focus on for the DNI Confirmation Hearing?
The key policy and topic areas that should be covered in Friday's confirmation hearing for Avril Haines, Biden's nominee to be director of national intelligence.

Lessons from Benghazi: Accountability for the U.S. Capitol Attack
Just like after that attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, there must be accountability for the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Accountability for the failure of law enforcement…

How Samantha Power Can Restore USAID’s Crucial Role in US Foreign Policy
The nomination signals that international cooperation is back in the toolbox for America's pursuit of an equitable, prosperous, and just world.