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
You Should Care About Mutual Legal Assistance More Than You Do
About a year ago, I wrote here that the mutual legal assistance (MLA) regime – the legal system that regulates government-to-government requests for evidence in criminal investigations,…
One Way Sri Lanka Can Shield its ex-Defense Secretary from a U.S. Criminal Prosecution
Last week, Sri Lanka’s Justice Deputy Minister responded to an Op-Ed that I published in the New York Times, in which I described reasons that the United States can and should…
Assad: Willing to risk direct confrontation with U.S. over moderate rebels—and stronger opposition to US airstrikes
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s interview with Foreign Affairs’ Jonathan Tepperman provides several important nuggets for international lawyers and policymakers to analyze.…
Boehner Invites Bibi: A Closer Look at Historical Practice
As many have noted, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming address to Congress is intriguing because of the process by which it was arranged: House Speaker John…
General Dempsey’s Position on an AUMF for ISIL: The Good, the Bad, and the Confusing
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey gave his views of what a congressional authorization for the use of force against ISIL should contain, in an…
What it Really Means to “Close Guantánamo”
[Editors’ Note: This post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections” feature, in which a different Just Security editor examines the big stories from the previous…
Inexplicable(?) New York Times Op-Ed on Inspire Magazine and the First Amendment
In today’s New York Times, a lawyer named Martin London has published an Op-Ed full of alarm, with dire warnings about “First Amendment fundamentalists” who…
AUMF Proposals and Congressionally Mandated Reporting Requirements: Some Guideposts
In his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, President Obama called on Congress to authorize force against the Islamic State. This was consistent with the line he has been walking…
The Gov’t of Sri Lanka Responds to my NYT Op-Ed on U.S. War Crimes Probe of ex-Defense Secretary
The government of Sri Lanka’s Justice Deputy Minister has responded to an Op-Ed that I published in the New York Times in which I described the reasons that the United States…
Assessing (Again) the Defensive Operations in Syria
The military operations against the Islamic State and Khorasan group in Syria have already received a lot of attention among international lawyers. The conversation has focused…
2 Years and 55 Prisoners To Go: It’s Time for a Lot More Guantanamo Review Boards
In 2001, Tariq Mahmoud Ahmed al Sawah, a veteran of the war in Bosnia who’d joined up with al Qaeda in Afghanistan, landed in U.S. custody. Injured by a cluster bomb in the Afghan…
State of the Union Address: National Security Highlights
If you are interested in national security issues in last night’s State of the Union Address, be sure to check out this morning’s News Roundup from Ruchi Parekh and…