International Law
Just Security offers expert analysis of international law and its role in addressing global challenges. Our coverage includes litigation in international and regional tribunals, the process of international law-making, analysis of compliance and accountability for international law violations–including international criminal justice, and challenges to the international legal order.
3,788 Articles
Call for Papers: “Revisiting the Role of International Law in National Security”
Many conversations in the U.S. about situations of armed conflict – within civil society, academia, and the U.S. government – center on “national security law,” often drawing…
New Case Proves Intelligence Community Whistleblowers Have Protections
NSA headquarters, Ft. Meade, Md. In December, Adm. Mike Rogers, director of the NSA, placed the agency’s Inspector General (IG), Dr. George Ellard, on administrative leave and…
Letter to the Editor: Response to A Right to Fight?
My sincere thanks to Prof. Adil Haque for engaging with me in a debate, both here and at Opinio Juris, over the moral function of the laws of war. To recap, Adil proposed lowering…
Reasons to Distrust Intelligence Report on Civilian Casualties
Ryan Goodman is absolutely correct in what he wrote yesterday at Just Security. I have not proved the claim he attributes to me, namely, that “there is a gross underestimation…
A Just Security Debate!—What’s With the Criticism of the DNI Report on Civilian Casualties?
A U.S. Air Force MQ-1B Predator drone, carrying a Hellfire air-to-surface missile taxis after landing at a secret air base in the Persian Gulf region on January 7, 2016. In a recent…
How Trump’s Team Can Use Obama’s Counterterrorism Playbook to Defeat al-Qa’ida and ISIL
The First of Many Challenges. The U.S. military’s January 29 raid in Yemen vividly illustrates the high-stakes challenges involved in counterterrorism operations – particularly…
Tallinn Manual 2.0 – Advancing the Conversation
On Wednesday last week I had the privilege of attending the Washington, D.C. launch of the Tallinn Manual 2.0 on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Operations at the Atlantic…
‘Forever War’ Symposium Offers Timely Perspective on Trump’s Policies
The Columbia Human Rights Law Review, in collaboration with the Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute, recently published a symposium edition dedicated to the relationship…
Targeted Killing Under Trump: Law, Policy, and Legal Risk
A recent Presidential Memorandum directs the Secretary of Defense to develop a preliminary plan to defeat ISIS. The plan “shall include . . . recommended changes to any United…
Tallinn Manual 2.0 on the International Law of Cyber Operations: What It Is and Isn’t
This week marked the release of Tallinn Manual 2.0 on the International Law of Cyber Operations, the result of the follow-on project that led to the publication of the Tallinn…
Yemen’s consent for U.S. counterterrorism operations: Questions for the Trump Administration
On Thursday, the New York Times reported that Yemen had withdrawn its consent from US Special Operations ground missions in the country, following a commando raid Jan. 29, which…
How to Unmask Trump’s Detention Plans: Ask about the Yemen Raid
On Wednesday, we received news from the New York Times of a revised draft Executive Order that would require the Secretary of Defense to “maintain and continue to use” Guantanamo…