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.
4,757 Articles
Clapper to Hagel: Taliban 5 return to battle “will not appreciably change the threat” to US or Afghanistan
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel testified before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday about the prisoner exchange involving Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and five Guantanamo detainees…
Secretary Hagel’s defense of the Bergdahl deal [UPDATED]
[slightly updated for clarification and to account for testimony during the hearing] The Secretary of Defense is testifying at a HASC hearing beginning now. Here are his prepared…
House Armed Services Committee Hearing: The May 31, 2014 Transfer of Five Senior Taliban Detainees
Happening now Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel testifies before the House Armed Services Committee the May 31, 2014 transfer of five senior Taliban detainees. Secretary Hagel’s…
Congress Clearly Contemplated Prisoner Exchanges as Part of NDAA Notification Requirements–and so did the White House
Some think the following is the Obama administration’s main argument for bypassing Congress in transferring the 5 Taliban detainees from Guantanamo: Congress did not contemplate…
Interpretation and Retaliation in the Obama Administration
Caitlin Hayden’s statement last week on “why it was lawful” to exchange five Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo for Sergeant Bergdahl, “notwithstanding the notice requirement…
Sgt. Bergdahl and the High Priority to Recover Missing Soldiers
So far as I can tell, the issue of whether Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was a deserter is an issue that has very little relevance to any question of the legality or wisdom of the US…
Could Desertion in Afghanistan Be a Capital Offense?
As the debate over last weekend’s prisoner exchange continues, one of the darker memes to emerge is the suggestion that Sergeant Bergdahl could/should be court-martialed…
Eugene Fidell on Defection, Desertion, AWOL—and Whether to Prosecute
One of the clearest thinkers on US military justice and procedure is Eugene Fidell. And one of my favorite interviewers is Robin Young on WBUR’s Here and Now. The two recently…
The competing 2015 NDAA bills–A sign of hope for closing GTMO
On May 22, the House approved its version of the 2015 Defense Authorization Act by a vote of 325-98. This Monday, Senator Levin introduced the version of the 2015 NDAA recently…
The President’s Speech, Al Qaeda and the Legal Challenge of the Future
One of the most striking features of President Obama’s 28 May 2014 commencement address at West Point was its “turning the page” theme. The speech sought to look at the major…
Jones: End of the road
Yesterday, June 3, the Grand Chamber issued a notice “Grand Chamber Panel’s Decisions” which notes that a request for referral to the Grand Chamber has been rejected in the…
DoJ Requires Electronic Recording of Interrogations – But Not in National Security Cases
In an important decision not widely reported, the Department of Justice last month adopted a policy requiring that interrogations of suspects arrested by the principal federal…