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.
4,597 Articles
Due Process and Detention at Guantanamo: Closing the Constitutional Loopholes
The D.C. Circuit recently heard argument in Al Bahlul v. United States, where the defendant has made a series of constitutional challenges to the Guantanamo military commissions. …
Want to Hurt ISIL’s Finances? Go After the People Doing Business With It
In recent months, Western and certain Middle Eastern governments have devoted themselves to attacking the finances of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as part of…
Gideon’s Army at Guantanamo
Despite enormous logistical and legal hurdles, defense attorneys for high value detainees at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison, say they press on for the judgment of history,…
A Big Week in Afghanistan War Oversight
It has been a busy week for John Sopko, the US-appointed Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). He and his team just published a number of reports indicating…
The Private Frontline in Cybersecurity Offense and Defense
Two reports released Tuesday highlight the important role private actors are playing in cybersecurity defense. Cybersecurity company FireEye released a report on espionage activities…
The Blackwater Trial: Part 2 – Two Legal Issues
In the first part of this summary, we introduced the individuals in Blackwater’s Raven 23 team and set out their contrasting arguments about what took place at Nisour Square…
Samantar v. Yousuf: What Happens Next?
As Beth Van Schaack reported last week, the Supreme Court has called for the views of the Solicitor General in Samantar v. Yousuf, a case raising questions about the immunity of…
German Spy Agency Contradicts U.S. Claim that Russia Gave Weapon System that Downed MH17
Germany’s foreign intelligence agency has concluded that pro-Russian separatists shot down Malaysia Airline flight 17 using a BUK air defense missile system that the rebels stole…
The War in Afghanistan is Far from Over
Tuesday was an ominous one for news about Afghanistan. While much of the media’s attention has recently been focused on Syria, Iraq, and Ebola, NATO is still facing challenges…
Chemical Weapons and Secrecy: a Terrible Combination
Last week’s New York Times article detailing the fact that, between 2004 and 2011, American troops in Iraq “secretly reported finding roughly 5,000 chemical warheads, shells…
Military Commissions After Guantánamo
This Wednesday morning at 9:30 (EDT), a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit (Henderson, Rogers, & Tatel, JJ.) will hear oral argument in al Bahlul v. United States–a Guantánamo…
“Just looking for loopholes…”
…is what W. C. Fields supposedly said when someone found him leafing through the Bible. Apparently some lawyers in the Obama administration are following Fields’s lead,…