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
Debate (Round 1): Against the Notion of Competing Legal Frameworks in the “War on Terror”
This post is the third in a series from Gabor Rona, Geoffrey Corn, and Just Security’s Derek Jinks. The debate addresses a fundamental question for US national security law:…
Debate (Round 1): The Military Component of Counter-Terror Operations
This post is the second in a series from Gabor Rona, Geoffrey Corn, and Just Security’s Derek Jinks. The debate addresses a fundamental question for US national security…
Debate (Round 1): The ‘Lutte’ Against Terrorism
This post is the first in a series from Gabor Rona, Geoffrey Corn, and Just Security’s Derek Jinks. The debate addresses a fundamental question for US national security law:…
A New Face in the U.S.-Pakistani Relationship
[Note from Ryan Goodman: It is an honor for us to publish an essay from Ambassador Cameron Munter, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan 2010-2012 and in several other distinguished…
Al Bahlul Argument Post-Mortem
If one thing was clear from this morning’s oral argument before the en banc D.C. Circuit in al-Bahlul v. United States, it was the consistent skepticism from at least five…
The Other, Lurking Constitutional Question in al-Bahlul
I would add only one thing to Jen’s thorough summary of the al-Bahlul argument next Monday, about something she references at the very end of her post: Besides ex post…
Resolving Cyber-Related Ambiguities in the Law of War: A Reaction to Jensen
Many thanks to Eric Jensen for his excellent post on cyber issues, the use of force, and international law. The increasing number and sophistication of cyber attacks threatening…
Unprivileged Does Not Mean Prohibited
In his latest post, Ryan takes issue with those who argue that it would violate international law for a state civilian agency, such as the CIA, to use force in an armed conflict. …
Resolving Cyber Issues Sets the State for Future Weapons
[A note from Ryan Goodman: On Monday, Professor Michael Schmitt helped launch Just Security with a Guest Post on the law of cyber conflict. Professor Eric Talbot Jensen accepted…
Syria and the Law of Humanitarian Intervention (Part I: Political Miscues and U.S. Law)
Crises are lived forward but understood backwards. While it is still too early to know how the Syria crisis of 2013 will end, we can start evaluating what precedents of law and…
Good Reasons May Exist to Close CIA Drone Program—But Claim that CIA Agents are “Unprivileged Belligerents” is Not One of Them
Senator John McCain has vowed to accelerate the effort to transition control of drone operations from the CIA to the Pentagon, and he will likely have support from top Senate Democrats.…
On Syria, The System Worked
President Barack Obama’s critics have been virtually unanimous in their condemnation of his decision to ask Congress for authorization to use military force against Syria. …