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.
1,805 Articles
The Extraterritorial Right to Privacy: An Opportunity to Impact the Debate
A codicil to our ongoing discussion of the human rights implications of foreign and mass surveillance (see prior posts by Ryan Goodman (here and here), Philip Alston, Jennifer…
UN Human Rights Committee’s Report on US Compliance with the ICCPR: National Security Highlights
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has issued its Concluding Observations (full text) assessing US compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights…
UN Human Rights Committee Says ICCPR Applies to Extraterritorial Surveillance: But is that so novel?
[Editor’s Note: John Bellinger over at Lawfare replied to the following post. And Ryan has a new post, partly in response to John.] A major development in today’s UN Human…
International Law on Mass Foreign Surveillance: A Response to Ben Wittes and Ashley Deeks
On Monday, I joined the debate between Glenn Greenwald and Ben Wittes by arguing that the issue of mass surveillance of foreign populations is regulated by international human…
Some Questions About the President’s Phone-Records Proposal
In the New York Times, Charlie Savage reports that the administration intends to propose legislation that would end the NSA’s bulk collection of phone records. The legislation…
An End to Dragnet Surveillance?
The New York Times report that President Obama will call for an end to the bulk collection of American’s telephone metadata is yet further vindication for Edward Snowden in particular,…
President Obama Will Seek to Curb (End?) Section 215 Bulk Collection
In a story being reported this evening by Charlie Savage of The New York Times, it appears that President Obama is preparing to announce a legislative proposal that will seek…
Huawei Hacking is a Security Scandal
You probably won’t be surprised to learn that people who are neither naïve nor who hate freedom can reasonably disagree with Edward Lucas and his post from this morning…
International Proscriptions on Mass Surveillance (or What’s Missing in the Greenwald vs. Wittes Debate)
[Editor’s Note: On Tuesday, Ben Wittes and Ashley Deeks over at Lawfare replied to the following post. And Ryan has since posted a rejoinder to Ben and Ashley.] This weekend’s…
The So-Called Huawei Scandal and the Snowden Operation
We should spy on China. And Russia. And Iran. And plenty of other countries too. They are our political, diplomatic and economic competitors and enemies. And they spy on us. If…
Is the ODNI Approach to Secrecy and Transparency Evolving?
We flagged this yesterday afternoon on Just Security’s Twitter account, but nevertheless, it is helpful to include a reference here on the pages of the blog as well. Yesterday,…
PCLOB Hearing on Section 702 Authorities
Today, the PLCOB is holding a hearing on programs authorized under Section 702 of FISA. The hearing can be watched live on C-SPAN2. Written testimony of the witnesses is linked…