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.
1,846 Articles
Don’t Fall for the Hype: How the FBI’s Use of Section 702 Surveillance Data Really Works
All the cool kids these days oppose the FBI’s so-called “backdoor search loophole,” which allows it to query information obtained under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence…
Episode 47 of the National Security Law Podcast: Donuts and Depth Charges
And…we’re back! Fresh off of Thanksgiving, Professor Chesney and I are (all too) fired up to discuss the latest national security law news (not to mention a bunch of stuff…
Where Does the Trump Administration Stand on Encryption?
The circumstances are familiar: a deceased criminal, a locked phone, a determined FBI and a defiant tech company. After Devin Kelley murdered 26 people at the Sutherland Springs…
The “Backdoor Search Loophole” Isn’t Our Only Problem: The Dangers of Global Information Sharing
The upcoming expiration of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) has launched a fresh wave of debate on how the statute’s “backdoor search loophole”…
Flynn’s Turkish Delight: How, Why, and When He Reversed His Policy Positions on Turkey
Many commentators anticipate that Special Counsel Robert Mueller will likely indict retired lieutenant general Michael Flynn in part for the former National Security Advisor’s…
“Fixes” to Surveillance Law Could Severely Harm FBI National Security Investigations
A core national security law allowing the government to collect intelligence information—Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act—is set to expire at the end…
Extreme Vetting by Algorithm
Last week, a group of machine learning and data mining experts wrote to the acting secretary of DHS urging her to reconsider an automated Extreme Vetting Initiative being proposed…
Hacking Back in Black: Legal and Policy Concerns with the Updated Active Cyber Defense Certainty Act
For years now, there has been a discussion surrounding the feasibility of active cyber defense, and allowing private entities or individuals to “hack back” against hostile…
Former Prosecutor Renato Mariotti’s Tweet Threads on National Security (Nov. 10-17)
Here is an exposition and analysis of some of this week’s national security-related threads authored by Just Security Editorial Board member and former federal prosecutor…
Kushner’s Unsatisfactory Senate Document Production
The most incendiary part of a stinging letter from Senate Judiciary Committee leaders to Jared Kushner’s counsel, Abbe Lowell, is the committee’s disclosure that “other…
Episode 46 of the National Security Law Podcast: The $15 Million Dollar Man
In this week’s episode, your devoted hosts dig into a bonanza of national security law odds-and-ends. First up is an en banc decision by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance…
Russian Money and Trump’s Legal Defense
Piece by piece, we continue to learn about Russia’s assault on the 2016 election: cyberattacks on voting systems in 39 states; troll farms that pushed divisive political messages…