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.
1,807 Articles
East Africa Embassy Bombing Defendant Contests Miranda Waiver
In the last scheduled pre-trial hearing for alleged al-Qaeda operative known as Anas al-Libi, the defendant took the witness stand on Wednesday to contest the United States government’s…
CIA Report: Giving Rebels Weapons Without Direct Support Rarely Helps
This morning, the New York Times ran a story about an internal CIA study commissioned in the last two years that found the agency’s historic efforts to arm rebels have had a…
EU-Funded Study: Electronic Mass Surveillance Fails – Drastically
(This article presents the results of research by the SURVEILLE [Surveillance: Ethical Issues, Legal Limitations, and Efficiency] consortium, a European Union-funded multidisciplinary…
Shhh! Last Week Was All About Secrets
Editors’ Note: The following post is the sixth installment of a new feature, “Monday Reflections,” in which a different Just Security editor will take an in-depth look…
Twitter’s First Amendment Suit & the Warrant-Canary Question
This week, Twitter lobbed the latest volley in what has been both a fascinating and encouraging repositioning of technology companies vis-à-vis the U.S. government—a pivot that…
Clapper, Adobe, and Article III Standing for Surveillance Harms
A recent decision from a federal court in the Northern District of California has added a new and interesting chapter to the decades-long saga of Article III standing in privacy…
Executive Order 12333 and the Golden Number
I recently moderated a debate between Professor Nathan Sales of Syracuse Law, Professor Laura Donohue of Georgetown Law, Bob Litt, general counsel of the Office of the Director…
Twitter is Suing the US Government in an Effort to Reveal Surveillance Information
Twitter filed a case in the Northern District of California (docket number 14-cv-04480) on Oct. 7 seeking a court order that would allow the company to reveal more precise information…
Smartphone “Backdoors” and Open Computing
Recently I wrote a longish post over at the Cato Institute’s blog trying to deflate some of the increasing hysteria over the announcement that Apple and Google will be turning…
Bugs, Bounties, and Blowback
Last week news broke of a major software bug—now termed “Shellshock”—in open-source software used in Linux and UNIX operating systems. Security experts have warned that…
It’s Time to Pass the USA Freedom Act—Warts and All
Thirteen years after 9/11, the United States Congress appeared poised to begin the long overdue process of reining-in the intelligence establishment’s runaway surveillance practices.…
The Need for Both Legal and Technical Privacy Protections
Last week, Apple and Google came under intense criticism from the law enforcement and national security communities for their decisions to encrypt user data when devices are locked.…