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
What Did the Courts Say When Bush was Accused of Targeting Muslim Immigrants?
Looking out my window in lower Manhattan, and with Donald Trump’s inauguration just a few days behind us, it’s hard to stop thinking that a Muslim man, sitting in a chair with…
How the European Convention on Human Rights Limits Cooperation with the Trump Administration
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump repeatedly promised to keep the Guantanamo Bay detention facility open and to “load it up with some bad dudes.” He also pledged to bring…
How News Media Can Get Misled by Tough Talk on Killing Terrorists
Image: US airstrike with 2,000lb bombs on ISIS bank in Mosul, Jan. 11, 2016 – CENTCOM Less than a half hour after Donald Trump took the oath of office on Friday, ABC News…
Trump’s First Drone Strikes: How to Measure His Approach to Transparency and Accountability
The first drone strikes under President Donald Trump were reportedly launched just a day after his inauguration. According to the New York Times, 17 people were killed in three…
White House Spokesman Changes the Story on Flynn’s Calls to Russian Ambassador
The Trump administration continues to change its story on when and how many times Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s national security adviser, spoke to Russian Ambassador Sergey…
White House Credibility in Crisis
“This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration — period — both in person and around the globe.” — White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer On Saturday,…
Women, Marching and Security
On Saturday, more than 2 million people marched across the United States and multiple world capitals making vocal and visual their opposition to Donald Trump’s presidency and…
The U.S. Constitution and the Risk of Democratic Backsliding
Is there a real possibility of the erosion of democratic institutions toward authoritarianism in the United States? What can the experience of other countries tell us about how…
Obama Admin: Only One Civilian Killed by U.S. Outside of War Zones in 2016
On the eve of the inauguration of a new president, the Director of National Intelligence released a report (full text) that summarizes the number of military strikes taken by the…
Norms Watch: Tracking the Erosion of Democratic Traditions (Jan. 13-20)
Sign up here to receive Norms Watch in your inbox each Friday. Last week, we launched a regular series tracking President-elect Donald Trump’s adherence, or lack thereof, to…
Tracking the Trump Team’s Conflicting or False Statements on Russia (Chart)
This is an effort to catalog instances when the Trump team’s assertions about their connections to Russia contradict what they’ve said in the past and the facts as they’ve…
The CIA’s New Guidelines for Handling Americans’ Information
In acknowledgment of the mass scale of modern electronic intelligence collection, the Central Intelligence Agency today released newly updated guidelines governing how it treats…