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
Seek and Speak the Truth
Promoting an environment that supports truth-telling is vital to the Intelligence Community.
WhatsApp v. NSO Group: State Immunity and Cyber Spying
WhatsApp claims NSO implanted spyware on phones of human rights activists, lawyers, and religious figures. NSO says it can't be sued if it did so on behalf of (undisclosed) foreign…
ICC Afghanistan Torture Investigation Likely to Turn on Criminal Intent
Good-faith reliance on advice of counsel is a well-established defense in U.S. criminal law, but it has not yet been tested at the ICC.
9/11 All Over Again
As in the days after 9/11, the current challenges stemming from COVID-19 seem unprecedented. But the parallels are striking.
Extend New START — The World Can’t Afford a U.S.-Russia Nuclear Arms Race Too
The chances of successfully negotiating a new, complex deal including China were already slim before the coronavirus pandemic. Now, in the midst of what clearly will be an extended…
Beware, Lobbyists: The Future of FARA Under a Biden Presidency
If Donald Trump loses the upcoming election in November, the Department of Justice’s Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) – the law that’s already tripped up numerous Trump…
How Congress Can Save Lives, Protect Rights, and Exert U.S. Leadership Globally in Response to Coronavirus
Given the Trump administration’s foreign policy proclivities, it’s likely that Congress will have to do much of the heavy lifting.
Iran’s Murder of an American, CIA Contractor Bob Levinson, Suggests Impunity at Home Too
In light of the internal power struggle that turned Levinson into a tragic pawn on the bureaucratic chessboard, fundamental questions remain unanswered.
Can Governments Track the Pandemic and Still Protect Privacy?
A team of Europeans is creating a different contact-tracing tool that they say is designed to limit the collection and exposure of personal data.
Congress Must Insert Oversight of Intel Community in COVID Emergency Legislation
Governments often curtail individual liberties when faced with national or global emergencies. Unsurprisingly, one result of the COVID-19 pandemic is that governments around the…
Disrupt, Don’t Indict: Why the United States Should Stop Indicting Foreign State Actor Hackers
The U.S. Department of Justice announced the indictment of Nicolás Maduro, who the United States ceased to recognize as Venezuela’s president in early 2019, for narco-terrorism…
US Burns Credibility in Grenell Quest for Foreign Policy Win, as Kosovo Government Falls
Amid COVID19 crisis, Special Envoy Richard Grenell's pressure on Kosovo precipitates collapse of popular and promising reformist government.