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
Follow-Up Questions For Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and Trump Campaign on Massive Breach
Late on Friday night, Facebook made a surprising announcement. The company said it was suspending the British firm Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL), and its political…
The Unintended “Foreign Agents”
“Foreign agents” are suddenly in our midst – or so it seems. Paul Manafort was indicted, in part, for failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).…
UN Working Group: Indefinite Detention of Gitmo Detainee Violates Human Rights Law
The Jan. 24 findings of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention conclude that the continued detention of Ammar al Baluchi at Guantanamo Bay is arbitrary, discriminatory, and…
“License to Kill” in Salisbury: State-sponsored assassinations and the jus ad bellum
Above: U.K. Ambassador to the U.N. Jonathan Allen speaks at an urgent meeting of the Security Council on the recent nerve agent attack in Salisbury, U.K. on March 14, 2018. (Spencer…
Trump’s Torture Appointees
While Trump’s executive picks have generated considerable publicity due to their support for or history with Bush-era torture and detention policies, his administration’s choices…
Why the CLOUD Act is Good for Privacy and Human Rights
Above: Lawyer Joshua Rosenkranz and Brad Smith, President and Chief Legal Officer of Microsoft, speak to reporters following oral arguments in the U.S. v. Microsoft case at the…
The End of Pretending
Above: President Donald Trump speaks at CIA headquarters. Editors’ note: this article has been updated to reflect the newly-reported fact that Gina Haspel was not in charge…
Four Common Sense Fixes to the CLOUD Act that its Sponsors Should Support
Congress is quietly but intensively debating the CLOUD Act, a bill which would have a serious impact on privacy rights, and it may be attached to an omnibus spending bill this…
Salisbury Response Option: Take Putin to Int’l Criminal Court
What legal options are open to the United Kingdom in its response to the alleged Russian assassination attempt in Salisbury? A separate piece at Just Security will discuss whether…
New Bill That Would Give Foreign Governments a Fast Track to Access Data
Increasingly, foreign governments have complained that the MLAT process in the U.S. is slow and that it allows the U.S. Government as a gatekeeper of electronic data. The CLOUD…
DHS’ Constant Vetting Initiative: a Muslim-Ban by Algorithm
Above: President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Late last week, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) wrote to the Department of Homeland Security, urging it…
The EWI Encryption Report: Stop Trying to Sell Me a Shoebox
Which would you prefer: keeping your valuables in a locked safe, or keeping them in a shoebox and trusting that everyone will adhere to laws against theft and their concomitant…