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

Just Security Podcast: A Guilty Verdict in the Proud Boys Trial
To help us understand what the verdict means, what’s missing, and what comes next, we have Tom Joscelyn and Mary McCord.

Preventing Intelligence Leaks: Let’s Start Over
A new "secrecy paradigm" is needed to prevent future intelligence leaks that could be even more damaging than the Teixeira breach.

The Role of Culture in Torture and its Absence in Guantanamo’s Medical Care System
Culturally competent medical care, including to the extent possible care provided by independent medical experts of the detainees’ nationalities, is needed at Guantanamo now.

If Dianne Feinstein Were President
Tracking the rules pertaining to a disabled president, there should be a formal procedure allowing a senator to temporarily step aside.

I’ve Prosecuted National Security Cases. It Can Take Time to Get Them Right.
Prosecutors in counterintelligence cases are maximizing their chances of success while protecting defendants’ rights and national security.

The Year of Section 702 Reform, Part II: Closing the Gaps and Completing the Modernization of FISA
There are gaps in FISA's coverage that collect American communications outside of any statutory framework and beyond the reach of courts.

The Teixeira Breach: What Top Intelligence and Legal Experts Are Saying
Analysis from top intelligence and legal experts on the Teixeira breach and implications for national security.

The Teixeira Disclosures and Systemic Problems in the U.S. Intelligence Community
As intelligence leaders assess the damage from the Teixeira leaks, Congress should ask tough questions to hold the executive branch accountable and prevent future leaks.

Lessons from COVID-19: Intelligence Failures and How to Prepare for the Next Global Crisis
The pandemic was a global intelligence failure, and the world still has not learned the lessons to prepare for the next crisis.

Digital Privacy Legislation is Civil Rights Legislation
Seven must-have provisions for a comprehensive federal consumer data privacy law - without such a law, America can’t have “liberty and justice for all.”

Expert Q&A on IHL Compliance in Russia’s War in Ukraine
IHL needs to be respected in the heat of battle. How to achieve that goal - and reduce civilian suffering during hostilities - should become an urgent focus of international attention.

Transnational Repression Increasingly Reaches Into the United States
In countering transnational repression, "[c]ivil litigation provides a pathway for holding ... authoritarian regimes directly accountable, not just their hired guns, if significant…