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

Did Russian Trolls Have Company?: New Evidence on Israel-based PSY-Group’s Possible Social Media Efforts in 2016 US Election
Much ink has been spilled on the role of the Russia-backed Internet Research Agency’s engaging in disinformation tactics to help the Trump campaign. The intelligence firm and…

A Model for Improving Cooperation in Cyber – the Highway Safety Act?
A new piece of bipartisan legislation—the “Enhancing Grid Security through Public-Private Partnerships Act” (HR 5240)—was reported out of the House Energy and Commerce…

United Kingdom Att’y General’s Speech on International Law and Cyber: Key Highlights
On Wednesday, the United Kingdom’s Attorney General, Jeremy Wright, QC MP, gave a speech at Chatham House on the role of international law in cyberspace. It is the first official…

A Possible US-EU Agreement on Law Enforcement Access to Data?
[Cross-posted on Lawfare] Attorney General Jeff Sessions is scheduled to fly to Sofia, Bulgaria for a May 22 meeting with senior European law enforcement officials. In the wake…

Enhanced Evasion Techniques
On Thursday, May 17, after only a few hours of debate, the Senate approved Gina Haspel’s nomination as CIA director by a margin of 54 to 45 votes. The vote broke largely, but…

Getting to the Bottom of the Trump Tower Meeting
What the new documents tell us about some of the basic questions surrounding the fateful meeting.

Digital Free for All Part Deux: European Commission Proposal on E-Evidence
The European Commission has released a proposal to enable EU-member states’ law enforcement authorities to access digital information regardless of where that data is stored.…

The Intel Community’s Annual Transparency Report Raises More Questions Than It Answers
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence's new mandatory report, summarizing certain intelligence agencies’ surveillance activities in 2017, is one of the most important…

Gina Haspel: Feminist Smokescreen, Not Choice
Over the weekend, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted that it would be hypocritical to at once “support women’s empowerment” and oppose the nomination of Gina…

The Diplomats Speak: More Opposition to Gina Haspel’s Nomination to Head the CIA
Above: CIA headquarters. An august group of 115 retired diplomats have now circulated their own letter (reproduced below) in opposition to the nomination of Gina Haspel to lead…

Can An Insider Save CIA From Itself?
As confirmation hearings loom for Gina Haspel to be director of CIA, the focus has understandably been on what actions she might have taken in the Agency’s enhanced interrogation…

More Questions for Gina Haspel—The Record of False CIA Claims about Torture’s “Efficacy”
Recently Katherine Hawkins published a comprehensive set of questions that Gina Haspel, nominee to head the CIA, should be asked during her confirmation hearings (“What the…