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.
4,605 Articles
Why the Foreign Policy Sky is Not Falling
Both Michael Fuchs’ angst-ridden piece for Just Security (“The Deconstruction of America’s Global Leadership”), and Jack Goldsmith’s equally frenetically titled (but…
Trump’s Islamophobic Record Provides Backdrop for New Counterterrorism Policies
Every one of the 10 airports targeted by the new “laptop ban,” issued last week by the Department of Homeland Security, is located in a Muslim-majority country. Unsurprisingly,…
Shaky Legal Grounds: Syria Demands US Assault on Raqqa Must Work with Assad’s Forces
On Friday, Syria’s Ambassador to the United Nations stated that a U.S.-backed assault on ISIL’s capital city of Raqqa would be illegitimate unless militarily coordinated…
The International Legal Environment for Nuclear Deterrence
Russian spy ships stationed off the U.S. coast, provocative overflights of U.S. warships, and deployments of U.S. tanks in Central Europe are no longer artifacts of the Cold War,…
San Francisco Sets an Example of How to Resist Surveillance in Trump Era
The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) suspended its participation in the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) last month. JTTFs are counterterrorism-focused intelligence-sharing…
What Explains the Rise in Civilian Casualties in US Military Ops–Iraq, Syria and Elsewhere
Last Friday, several news outlets reported that perhaps as many as 200 civilians had been killed in a recent U.S. airstrike in Mosul in northern Iraq, where the U.S. is participating…
President Trump’s Campaign Promises Stick with Us—They should stick with him, too
The ongoing travel ban litigation has triggered intense debate on whether an assessment of the ban’s constitutionality must be limited to the “four corners” of President…
Incidental Collection Is Extremely Troubling, Regardless of Legality
A lot of ink has been spilled over statements by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Nunes that President Trump’s communications were incidentally collected pursuant to a surveillance…
Trump is Making Us All Fight for the Truth
By almost any measure, this was a disastrous week for President Donald Trump. What went wrong for the president? On Monday, FBI Director James Comey confirmed that the FBI is investigating…
Did U.S. Provide Helicopter Used in Attack of Somali Refugees in Yemen?
Earlier this month, a dramatic event occurred in the war in Yemen that could even shock those numbed by the continued pace of civilian casualties. A military craft and helicopter…
[Calling it] Treason Doth Never Prosper…
This post is going to be brief. There’s still a lot we don’t know about what role, if any, Russia played in the 2016 election, and what role, if any, the Trump campaign…
Gutting the State Department is National Security Malpractice
If you think about national security in health terms, the State Department serves as a primary care physician, a vaccine researcher, a psychiatrist, a rehabilitation expert, and…