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
Latest Round of Briefing in ACLU v. Clapper “Telephony Records Program” Case
The ACLU and the Government filed their reply briefs today on their respective motions in the Section 215 “Telephony Records Program” litigation in the Southern District…
Laura Donohue’s Comprehensive Case Against Bulk Metadata Collection
Our good friend and Georgetown Law Professor Laura Donohue has been kind enough to share with us an advance draft of her latest article, “Bulk Metadata Collection: Statutory…
The Solicitor General Should Correct the Record in Clapper
In yesterday’s New York Times, Charlie Savage confirmed something we’ve suspected for some time—that until very recently the Justice Department was failing to provide statutorily…
Five Questions We Should All Be Asking About the NSA and the US Targeted Killing Program
The Washington Post’s latest piece on NSA surveillance, based on Edward Snowden’s leaked documents, provides a glimpse into the US government’s highly secretive process for…
We All Go Down Together: NSA Programs Overseas Violate Americans’ Privacy, Yet Escape FISC, Congressional Oversight
Ongoing revelations show that significant NSA surveillance activities take place outside of either Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) or congressional oversight, even…
The Government’s Initial Supreme Court Filing on the Section 215 “Telephony Records Program”
On Friday the government filed its brief in opposition to the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s mandamus petition to the Supreme Court, No. 13-58, in which EPIC is challenging…
Other Uses of the NSA Call Records Database—Fingerprinting Burners?
We’ve now heard in some detail about how the NSA made use of its vast database of call records to investigate links between terror suspects via “contact chaining”…
Government Shutdown Postpones Declassification Review of FISC Opinion
Today, the FISC granted the government’s motion to delay a declassification review of prior FISC opinions regarding the legality of Section 215 of the Patriot Act. Contrary…
Selective Disclosure About Targeted Killing
For several years, the ACLU has been pressing the Obama administration to be more transparent about the targeted-killing program. I’m starting to wonder whether it understands…
“Relevance” at the Royale Inn
The NSA’s controversial call records program is predicated on the extraordinary premise that the phone logs of nearly all Americans are “relevant” to an intelligence…
New NSA Reform Proposal from Sen. Leahy and Rep. Sensenbrenner
While the continued government shutdown has sidelined an estimated 800,000 federal employees and resulted in the cancellation of President Obama’s trip to Asia this weekend,…
Recent Filings in Case Challenging NSA metadata program (ACLU v. Clapper)
Earlier this summer the ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the NSA’s collection of telephony metadata under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act. This is one…