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.
4,713 Articles
Think Again: The Limitations in the President’s Draft AUMF Do Have Meaning
Several prominent commentators have argued that the limitations in President Obama’s draft AUMF against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) would be meaningless if…
Guest Post: CVE Efforts Should be Based on Facts, Not Flawed Theories
Ed. note: This guest post was produced as part of the Brennan Center for Justice’s interview series, Rethinking Intelligence. Yesterday, the White House kicked-off a three-day summit…
The Shrinking Military Commissions, Redux
Back in January, I wrote a post about the Convening Authority’s decision to “disapprove” the findings and sentence in the Guantánamo military commission trial…
AUMF, “Associated Forces,” and Slippery Slopes: Two More Data Points
I recently examined, in an essay at Foreign Policy, the unusually expansive definition of associated forces and successor entities in the President’s proposed authorization to…
The Fine Line Between Collective Self-Defense and Intervention by Invitation: Reflections on the Use of Force against ‘IS’ in Syria
Bashar and Asma al-Assad. Image credit: Ricardo Stuckert/ABr via Wikimedia Commons. [Editor’s Note from Ryan Goodman: With the U.S. Congress turning its attention to an…
Sens. Cardin and Murphy Offer Up Bill to Sunset 2001 AUMF
Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) introduced legislation today to sunset the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) against al-Qaeda. This comes…
What do Public Opinion Polls on President’s AUMF Proposal Really Say?
It is important to read beneath the headlines and initial interpretations of a new NBC News/Marist poll that surveys public opinion on President Obama’s proposal for a congressional…
Obama’s Forever War Starts Now
Ed Note. This piece also appears in Foreign Policy. When President Barack Obama announced the start of a U.S.-led bombing campaign in Iraq against the Islamic State on Aug. 7,…
Suggestions for clarifying/amending the President’s draft ISIL AUMF
It’s a good start. If enacted, the draft Authorization for Use of Military Force that President Obama proposed yesterday would not materially affect the way in which the…
Reader’s Guide to Just Security Analysis for an ISIL AUMF [Updated]
I. Design of the ISIL-Specific AUMF Avoiding Unnecessary Wars and Preserving Accountability: Principles for an ISIL-Specific AUMF (Ryan Goodman & Steve Vladeck: Nov. 10, 2014)…
Don’t Overvalue a Sunset in the AUMF: Start Talking About the Conditions When Wars Could End
More than six months after American bombs started falling in Iraq and Syria, President Barack Obama has finally submitted his proposal for authorizing the military campaign targeting…
Video of How to End the Forever War and Fight ISIL: Q&A with Harold Koh
How can the United States wind down operations in Afghanistan responsibly? Is there likely to be an end to “armed conflict” with al Qaeda anytime soon? What role does…