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.
4,711 Articles
The States Can Trump Trump’s Pardons: State Prosecutions for Money Laundering, Hacking Conspiracy, Tax Fraud, and More
This article is cross-posted at Shugerblog. After President Donald Trump pardoned former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, observers feared that the president was just warming up his pardon…
Legal Questions About the Airstrike Against the ISIS “Happy Journeys” Convoy
This week American-led airstrikes deterred the advance of a convoy carrying a group of ISIS fighters and civilians as it traveled from Lebanon to an ISIS safe-haven in Syria. The…
What Can Stop the Next Black Hawk Down: Risks to Special Operation Forces in the Trump Era
(Editors’ note: This article first appeared as a three-part series. We are reproducing it here in full.) Twenty-four years ago this month, President Bill Clinton, a first-term…
Norms Watch: Democracy, the Trump Administration, and Reactions to It (Aug 25-Sept 1)
Editor’s Note: Welcome to the latest installment of Norms Watch, our series tracking both the flouting of democratic norms by the Trump administration and the erosion of…
Animus, Not Readiness: Trump & Mattis Move Full Steam Ahead on Unconstitutional Trans Military Ban
While it all started with an early morning tweet (as it so often does), this week President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis both took steps to enshrine Trump’s…
A Round-Up of Just Security’s Obstruction of Justice Coverage
President Donald Trump’s lawyers are trying to make the case that their client did not obstruct justice when he fired FBI Director James Comey in May and in his other actions…
Preventing the Next Black Hawk Down
(Editors’ note: This article is the third of a three-part series by the author on the Trump administration’s use of special operations. Read parts I and II here and here.)…
President Trump’s Hostility to the News Media: Reckless driving or premeditated assault?
On Tuesday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, held a press conference at his headquarters in Geneva, intending to focus on systematic…
The Unstable Status Quo: The Trump Administration’s Approach to Special Operations
(Editors’ note: This article is the second of a three-part series by the author on the Trump administration’s use of special operations. Read part I here.) Donald Trump stormed…
We Shouldn’t Forget the Lessons of Black Hawk Down: Part I
Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment in Somalia, 1993. (Editors’ note: This article is the first of a three-part series by the author on the Trump administration’s…
Key U.S. Foreign Policy Positions—including Ambassador for War Crimes—Saved from Getting Axed
Just Security recently broke the story that the State Department was considering shuttering or downgrading certain functional offices and Senate-confirmed ambassadorships within…
Just Another Mattis Pep Talk?: How “Hold the Line” speaks to civilian and military audiences
A video clip of Defense Secretary James Mattis speaking with troops deployed in Jordan has been making the rounds on various social media outlets, with varied and strong…