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

Citizens to the UN: Investigate Our “Torture Chambers in the Sky”
On behalf of the North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture (NCCIT), a citizen-initiated truth panel, we just submitted a 35-page communication to 10 U.N. Special Rapporteurs…

When Constitutional Law and Government Hacking Collide: A Landmark U.K. Ruling Is Relevant on Both Sides of the Pond
The U.K. Supreme Court's landmark judgment in R (Privacy International) v Investigatory Powers Tribunal and others sets an important precedent for oversight of questions of law…

Journalist Watchlist Raises Specter of Civil Rights-Era Secret Surveillance
Throughout his campaign and now his presidency, historians have drawn parallels between President Trump’s treatment of the news media and the Nixon White House’s efforts to…

Scientists Are Aiding Apartheid in China
The international forensic genetic research community has failed to exercise due diligence in their cooperation with Chinese Ministry of Public Security researchers on forensic…

U.S. Cyber Command, Russia and Critical Infrastructure: What Norms and Laws Apply?
Emplacing malware in critical infrastructure on which the civilian population depends is a decision States must not take lightly. It may also violate international law, but 'responding…

To Congress: If Russians Seek to Provide Dirt, Make it a Requirement to Report!
The Anti-Collusion Act, introduced Wednesday by Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), would require everyone running for federal, state, or local office to report offers of assistance…

Balancing the Law and Reporting: Reflections on the Assange Indictment and What It Means for Journalists
The superseding indictment of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has again sent First Amendment guardians to the ramparts, when what’s needed is a calm discussion of what threat…

Unfinished Business: What Mueller Didn’t Cover, But Congress Can
An itemization of what the Mueller Report left untouched or undone, and where Congress can pick up the thread.
L’Affaire d’Assange: Why His Extradition May Be Blocked
The Department of Justice’s release of a superseding indictment accusing Julian Assange of numerous Espionage Act violations has stirred grave concern among defenders of a free…

The Snowden Effect, Six Years On
Six years ago, the world was introduced to a previously unknown government contractor who revealed the National Security Agency (NSA) was conducting an unparalleled level of warrantless…
Cooking the WMD Books: Politicizing the 2019 State Department Compliance Report
"I know. I used to work in State Department’s Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance and then in the Office of the Under Secretary responsible for this report.…

Assange May Have Committed a Crime, But the Espionage Act Is the Wrong Law to Prosecute
Is Wikileaks leader Julian Assange a journalist? If journalism is a profession, it is because, like other professions, it has standards and a code of ethics. As an example, a journalist…