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.
4,623 Articles
Whitewashing Guantánamo
President Trump has made no secret of his desire to continue–if not affirmatively re-invigorate–the detention of non-citizen terrorism suspects at Guantánamo. That’s…
Iraq Is Off the Travel Ban List, But Iraqis Most in Need Not Helped by Trump’s New Order
In its revised executive order, the Trump administration dropped Iraq from the list of Muslim-majority countries for whom travel to the United States is suspended for 90 days.…
Encryption Backdoors, Vault 7, and the Jurassic Park Rule of Internet Security
Surely without a hint of irony, just a day after WikiLeaks dumped a vault-load of documents detailing the Central Intelligence Agency’s use of hacking tools and software exploits,…
A Colleague’s Response to Finer and Malley on Obama’s Strategy Against Terrorism
The months since Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election have been a time for soul searching among those of us who served in the Obama Administration. Did our work…
The “Travel Ban” Executive Order as Separation-of-Powers Test Case
The White House’s March 6 executive order “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States” (the March EO or the new EO) is a telling blend…
A Supplement to Nicholas Kristof’s Ten Dots Connecting Trump to Russia
Nicholas Kristof has a valuable column this morning, “Connecting Trump’s Dots to Russia,” in which he lists ten “crucial” pieces of information that may indicate that…
Hitting Iran Where It Doesn’t Hurt: Why U.S. Intervention in Yemen Will Backfire
It’s tempting to take last weekend’s attacks on al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) targets as evidence that the Trump administration is prioritizing narrow counterterrorism…
Why a Broad Definition of “Violence” in Cyber Conflict is Unwise and Legally Unsound
International Humanitarian Law (IHL, aka the Law of Armed Conflict) is not intended to outlaw conflict. It is meant to regulate conflict in order to reduce its impact on civilians…
Three Problems with President Trump’s Guantánamo Tweet
In case you missed it, this morning’s tweetstorm from the White House began with this missive: 122 vicious prisoners, released by the Obama Administration from Gitmo, have…
Does Trump’s New Travel Ban Violate the Establishment Clause?
President Trump has signed a new travel ban. In some respects, the new executive order on immigration looks like the old one, which was held to be unconstitutional. So does the…
A Line-by-Line Comparison Between Trump’s Original Muslim Ban and Today’s
Want to know the difference between Trump’s last executive order and his latest? Data visualization specialist and longtime friend of Just Security, John Emerson, gave us…
We’ll See You in Court, 2.0: Once a Muslim Ban, Still a Muslim Ban
If a Muslim Ban is cleaned up to exclude Iraq, exempt lawful permanent residents and other current visa holders, is it still a Muslim ban? That’s the question presented by…