Intelligence & Surveillance
Just Security’s expert authors provide legal and policy analysis of intelligence and surveillance activities, focusing on their impact on national security and on civil liberties and privacy rights, and their oversight by Congress and the courts.
1,837 Articles
OPM, CISA, and the Cybersecurity Oxymoron
In Congress, bad policy ideas are like vampires: They are very hard to kill because they’re always somehow coming back from the dead. Such is the case with this year’s iteration…
Video and Highlights From a Conversation on Countering Violent Extremism
Just Security and the Project for the Study of the 21st Century (PS21) recently hosted an extremely interesting discussion between ex senior UN counter terrorism official Richard…
There’s No Reason to Hide the Amount of Secret Law
Last week, President Obama announced a new policy that would allow private parties to pay ransoms to hostage takers. The policy was established through an executive order and an…
Sloppy Cyber Threat Sharing Is Surveillance by Another Name
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 week or looks…
Has the CIA Asked the FISC to Restart Its Bulk Collection Program?
There’s a curious gap in the documents currently posted on the FISC’s public docket — one that suggests the NSA call records program isn’t the only type of bulk collection…
Latest UK Judgment on Post-Snowden Surveillance
On June 22, the UK’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) gave its latest judgment in the post-Snowden surveillance litigation brought by several NGOs against the UK Government…
“Expense,” “Delay,” and the Inauspicious Debut of the USA FREEDOM Act’s Amicus Provision
I have very little to add to Liza Goitein’s thorough and excellent post from this morning, which explains–quite forcefully in my view–why Judge Saylor’s…
A New US-UK Data Sharing Treaty?
In a little-noticed piece of news (at least in the US), the UK has been contemplating a new international treaty to enable British authorities to access user data held by US tech…
The FISC’s Newest Opinion: Proof of the Need for an Amicus
In the first public opinion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) since the USA Freedom Act became law, Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV ruled that the law revived the…
The CIA Can’t Keep Its Drone Propaganda Straight
This week, one government intelligence agency, after patiently and methodically tracking a terrorist leader for months through precise electronic surveillance, successfully targeted…
The Hidden Meaning (Maybe) of the New FISC Opinion
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court released an opinion today, dated June 17, holding that despite the brief lapse of several provisions of the USA Patriot Act, the effect…
The OPM Hack and the New DOD Law of War Manual
Last Friday was a big day in cybersecurity news. OPM announced that, in addition to the compromise of the personnel information of federal employees revealed on June 4, Chinese…