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
The Myth of NSA Omnipotence
The world’s foremost software engineers and cryptographers are gearing up to take on the National Security Agency (NSA), hoping to develop and implement technological solutions…
CIA Reportedly Spied on Senate Intelligence Committee Which May be a Federal Crime
McClatchy News is reporting that the CIA may have monitored computers that the agency provided to the Senate Intelligence Committee. The computers were used by Senate aides to…
Who Watches the Watchers?–A Rejoinder to Steve Vladeck
I am grateful for Steve’s careful response to my post, “Democratic Platitudes,” which examined his original post, “Does Espionage Porn Make Us Stronger?” Having benefited…
Optic Nerve – A Digital Mugbook & the Questions It Raises
“It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic,…
Chris Sprigman and Barry Friedman on ReplyAll Discussing Chris’ Just Security Post
On Monday of this week, Chris Sprigman had an excellent guest post on Just Security regarding compliance and lawfulness at the NSA. Today, Chris and Barry Friedman, other frequent…
RightsCon, March 3-5, San Francisco
Further to all our coverage of the use and abuse of digital technologies, I commend RightsCon to our readers—a gathering of the Silicon Valley (and beyond) tech community, digital…
Bart Gellman’s NSL
Politico has published a short piece based on an interview with Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman, who says he’s been told that at some point his telephone records…
Secrecy, Nonacknowledgement, and Yemen
Ryan posted last week about varying accounts of who was killed in an attack on an apparent wedding party in rural Yemen on December 12, 2013. A Human Rights Watch report quotes…
“Tweet Roll”: Reactions to Glenn Greenwald’s article on “How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet”
As reported in this morning’s Daily News Roundup, Glenn Greenwald’s latest piece for The Intercept takes a look at how western intelligence agencies “are attempting…
Italian Court of Cassation Reverses Convictions of Italian Intelligence Agents Involved in Bush-Era Extraordinary Rendition
Reuters and AP have reported that Italy’s highest court in criminal matters, the Court of Cassation, reversed the convictions on Monday of five Italian military intelligence…
Lithuanian Prosecutors Open Probe into CIA Black Site
The Lithuanian Prosecutor General’s Office has opened a pre-trial investigation into allegations that a Saudi Guantánamo detainee, Mustafa al-Hawsawi was held at a secret CIA…
The NSA’s Culture of “Legal Compliance” Still Breaks the Law
Lately the NSA has been on a public relations offensive that has two principal aims. First, the agency is trying to convince the public that a lot of the NSA’s bad press is based…