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.
4,623 Articles
Counterterrorism Under the Radar: A Notable No Fly List Case and its Broader Implications
Amidst all the discussion of the President’s speech on surveillance (and the PCLOB Report on the same subject), the release of Robert Gates’ memoir, and the discovery of horrific…
Lost in the Bulk Collection Debate — Fifth Circuit Affirms Life Sentence of Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari
With most (if not all) the focus these days on bulk collection under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, Section 702 of FISA, or E.O. 12333, it is easy to forget that foreign intelligence…
A $15 Million Dollar Torture Partnership
It has been common knowledge for a while that Poland hosted a secret CIA prison where Abd al Rahim al Nashiri and other prisoners now held in Guantánamo were detained and tortured. …
Section 215 Telephone Metadata Collection: The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board Trashes Pretty Much Everyone
Wow. There’s really no other way to capture what the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board told the nation today in its 200+ page report on the NSA’s telephone metadata…
Privacy Board Debunks Purported Justification for NSA’s Phone-Records Dragnet
The just-released report of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is rigorous and well-written, and it’s worth reading in its entirety. One section warranting particular…
An Inauspicious Anniversary: It’s Time to Release the Report of the Special Interagency Task Force on Interrogations and Transfer Policies
Yesterday was the five-year anniversary of President Obama’s Executive Order 13491 on ensuring lawful interrogations. The Order, one of the first acts of the Obama administration,…
PCLOB Releases Report, Recommends Government End §215 Program
Today, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) released its report (full text) on the NSA’s bulk telephony metadata collection program under Section 215…
Does “Espionage Porn” Make Us Stronger?
Although they have somewhat different focuses, one can find much in common in recent posts about the continuing byproducts of the Snowden disclosures (including last Friday’s…
Jack Goldsmith on the “Front-Page Rule”
Highly recommended. As I explained earlier, I think this is a very important question going forward.
Understanding What it Means to be “Approved for Transfer”: A Response to Lawrence Rosenthal
Lawrence Rosenthal argues below that the Executive lacks any AUMF authority to continue to detain GTMO detainees who have either been approved for transfer by the GTMO Review Task…
General Stanley McChrystal Discusses the Downsides of Drones
In an interview with BBC Radio 4, General Stanley McChrystal, the retired commander of forces in Afghanistan, stated his general view that the use of drones will and should increase.…
The Constitutional Case for Judicial Authority To Order the Transfer and Release of Guantánamo Detainees Cleared for Release
In the statement that he issued as he signed the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), President Obama, addressing the Act’s continuing restrictions on the transfer…