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.

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1,837 Articles
Hundreds of people gather in lower Manhattan for a "Lights for Liberty" protest against migrant detention camps and the impending raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) this coming weekend in various cities on July 12, 2019 in New York City.

The Supreme Court Just Made It Easier to Conceal Abuse of Migrant Detainees

The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed a half-century of precedent on citizens’ rights to know what their government is doing, by making it more difficult for the public to probe…
The seals of the U.S. Cyber Command, the National Secrity Agency and the Central Security Service.

U.S. Offensive Cyber Operations against Economic Cyber Intrusions: An International Law Analysis – Part II

Part I demonstrated that the United States is likely to struggle to make a convincing argument that economic cyber intrusions carried out against it breach international law. Consequently,…
A person typing on a keyboard

Outside the Beltway: An Experiment on Human Rights & Potential CLOUD Act Agreements

What questions remain in assessing the human rights concerns of potential CLOUD Act agreements? How would executive branch lawyers approach these questions?
Special Counsel Robert Mueller makes a statement about the Russia investigation on May 29, 2019 at the Justice Department in Washington, DC.

Five Takeaways from Talking Feds’ Mueller Preview Panel

As we prepare for the upcoming congressional testimony of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, we thought it would be helpful to tune into the Talking Feds podcast, which taped a series…
The seals of the U.S. Cyber Command, the National Secrity Agency and the Central Security Service.

U.S. Offensive Cyber Operations against Economic Cyber Intrusions: An International Law Analysis – Part I

On June 11, 2019, White House National Security Adviser John Bolton announced that U.S. offensive cyber operations would be expanded beyond countering election interference to…
Camden County Police Department officer Jose Delvalle, Louis Sanchez and Vidal Riverago out on patrol in Camden, New Jersey, on May 24, 2017.

Policing, U.S. Style: With Little Idea of What Really Works

Until we better analyze police strategies, policies, and technologies, and learn, in a quantifiable way, what works and what doesn’t, we are not truly advancing public safety.…
A laptop displays a message after being infected by a ransomware as part of a worldwide cyberattack on June 27, 2017 in Geldrop.

Cyberattack Attribution and the Virtues of Decentralization

In the midst of rising tensions between the United States and Iran over tanker attacks and Iran’s downing of a U.S. drone, reports emerged that U.S. Cyber Command had launched…
Australian founder of whistleblowing website, 'WikiLeaks', Julian Assange holds up a copy of today's Guardian newspaper during a press conference in London on July 26, 2010. The headline reads, “Massive leak of secret files exposes true Afghan war.”

Assange’s Indictment: A Threat to Everyone

Had the precedent of the Justice Department’s prosecution of Julian Assange existed in the past, there are numerous cases that could have resulted in a prosecution under the…
A Casa 235 turboprop plane with registration number N168D taxis along a runway at Ruzyne Airport April 8, 2005 in Prague, Czech Republic.

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…
Supreme Court Justices process from the Supreme Court to Westminster Abbey on October 1, 2013 in London, England. The start of the legal year is marked with a traditional religious service and procession from Westminster Abbey.

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…
The end of a section of the border wall stands on the U.S. side of the U.S.-Mexico border, with Tijuana in the background, on April 3, 2019 in Otay Mesa, California. U.S.

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…
Police in riot gear block the street in front of a number of Uighur people on July 8, 2009 in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region, China.

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…
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