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
Episode 62 of the National Security Law Podcast: Wait–We Have to Talk About GATT?!?
It’s not every week on this show that we get to talk about the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade! And if that’s not an appealing…
New Ruling Shows How Few Options There Are for Intelligence Community Whistleblowers
Last week, a federal judge dismissed a complaint by a CIA whistleblower (and spy), who goes by the pseudonym James Pars. The ruling by Judge Trevor McFadden could affect the willingness…
Just Security Podcast: Sam Vinograd on Kushner’s Security Clearance Downgrade
Earlier this week, Jared Kushner was stripped of his interim top-secret security clearance, limiting his ability to view highly classified intelligence and potentially jeopardizing…
Why An Encryption Backdoor for Just the “Good Guys” Won’t Work
Recently, U.S. law enforcement officials have re-energized their push for a technical means to bypass encryption. But seeking to undermine encryption only looks backward instead…
Trump’s New Target: The Justice Department’s Inspector General
President Donald Trump repeated his totally bizarre attacks against his own attorney general on Wednesday, but this time he included a new target for his anger: the Justice Department’s…
Deciphering the Redactions in the Schiff Memo
Almost as important as what the Schiff memo says is what it doesn’t say, because it got redacted. But, for various reasons, we’re still able to discern what lies behind some…
Symposium Recap: We Need the Cloud Act To Save Us & What Bill Dodge Got Right
Arguments in the Microsoft Ireland case are now less than a week away. Despite the desires of many (including me) that Congress move quickly to pass the CLOUD Act – and thereby…
Can “Fake News” be stopped?
The David Hogg conspiracy theory highlights the speed at which false information spreads on social media. And it is currently beyond the capacity of automated systems to determine…
Microsoft, Ireland, and the Rest of the World
United States v. Microsoft will be practically significant for its effect on law enforcement’s ability to access data stored abroad, and it has the potential to be doctrinally…
The Microsoft Design Decisions That Caused this Mess
I need not spend much space on the merits of United States v. Microsoft, the case about the extraterritoriality of email search warrants that the Supreme Court will decide this…
Microsoft (Ireland) and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure
Microsoft (Ireland) raises a difficult policy question about when and how U.S. law enforcement may access cross-border data. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court is seemingly set to…
“Extraterritorial” Is Not a Bad Word, Even on the Internet
In the world of Internet policy, it is a slur to call something an assertion of extraterritorial jurisdiction. Coverage of, for example, Canada’s recent ruling against Google…