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.
4,594 Articles
State of play of the SSCI report on the CIA interrogation program: the relationship between declassification and disclosure
Last Thursday, Senator Diane Feinstein, the Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), issued a statement that the SSCI had voted that afternoon “to…
Hersh’s Syria Conspiracy Theory: The CIA and Intelligence Oversight Questions
In a previous post, I discussed the Senate Intelligence Committee report on the attack against U.S. facilities and personnel in Benghazi, Libya. That post contemplated bias by…
The al-Aulaqi Opinion and Fourth Amendment “Seizures”
Friday’s decision by Judge Collyer, in which she dismissed Bivens claims brought by the families of Anwar al-Aulaqi, his son Abdulrahman, and Samir Khan (arising out of their…
Seymour Hersh’s Second Bite at the Apple: The Syrian chemical weapons conspiracy 2.0
In December 2013, Seymour Hersh published a potential bombshell story entitled, “Whose sarin?” The story purported to show that the White House knew it had insufficient evidence…
Why the CIA? Why no U.S. acknowledgement?
Just to follow up on Ryan’s post: Mark Mazzetti’s story for the Times, assuming it is accurate, confirms what I tried to explain in a post a few weeks ago —…
Yemen Banned Pentagon’s Drone Operations after US Struck Wedding Procession
In Sunday’s New York Times, a must-read story by Mark Mazzetti chronicles a wide range of issues involving the CIA and counterterrorism programs. A news development that might…
Detention After the AUMF
Hot off the presses comes the Fordham Law Review‘s print issue with the papers from last September’s symposium on “Citizenship, Immigration, and National Security…
The SSCI Report and the Right to the Truth about the CIA’s Secret Detention and Extraordinary Rendition Program
Today’s vote to declassify and ultimately release portions of the exhaustive Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) report on the CIA’s rendition, detention, and interrogation…
SSCI Votes to Declassify Portions of CIA Interrogation Report [Updated with Statement from Sen. Feinstein]
Breaking news this afternoon: the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has voted to declassify portions of its report on the CIA’s post-9/11 interrogation and detention…
The Difficulty of Relative Judgments about the Utility of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques: The SSCI Report in Context
Transparency is critically important to the legitimacy and effectiveness of democratic governments. Transparency facilitates both the responsiveness of government to the needs…
Civilian War Victims Receive Recognition in US Law
When the US military was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, it had no plan for addressing civilian casualties despite following rules prohibiting disproportionate or deliberate…
Military Courts and Article III
For some time, I’ve been working on the larger implications of the jurisprudence arising from the Guantánamo military commissions and the Court of Appeals for the Armed…