Terrorism & Violent Extremism
Just Security provides expert legal and policy analysis of terrorism, counterterrorism, and domestic and international violent extremism.
2,225 Articles
After 16 Years of War, Senate Finally Debates Need for War Debate
After 15 years of no debate on the floor of the Congress since the last war authorization and 16 years of war—the longest in the nation’s history—the U.S. Senate spent 45…
Letter to the Editor: How Steve Vladeck’s Response Makes My Case
With his usual zeal, my friend Steve Vladeck energetically defends his support for the D.C. Circuit court’s decision mandating Judge Scott Silliman’s recusal in the military…
Homeland Security Needs More International Engagement, Not ‘Fortress America’
When most people think of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the mind conjures images of border patrolmen on horseback along the American southwest border or Transportation…
Legal Questions About the Airstrike Against the ISIS “Happy Journeys” Convoy
This week American-led airstrikes deterred the advance of a convoy carrying a group of ISIS fighters and civilians as it traveled from Lebanon to an ISIS safe-haven in Syria. The…
What Can Stop the Next Black Hawk Down: Risks to Special Operation Forces in the Trump Era
(Editors’ note: This article first appeared as a three-part series. We are reproducing it here in full.) Twenty-four years ago this month, President Bill Clinton, a first-term…
We Shouldn’t Forget the Lessons of Black Hawk Down: Part I
Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment in Somalia, 1993. (Editors’ note: This article is the first of a three-part series by the author on the Trump administration’s…
Key U.S. Foreign Policy Positions—including Ambassador for War Crimes—Saved from Getting Axed
Just Security recently broke the story that the State Department was considering shuttering or downgrading certain functional offices and Senate-confirmed ambassadorships within…
Just Another Mattis Pep Talk?: How “Hold the Line” speaks to civilian and military audiences
A video clip of Defense Secretary James Mattis speaking with troops deployed in Jordan has been making the rounds on various social media outlets, with varied and strong…
Proposed 2019 Start Date for 9/11 Trial Faces Skepticism from Gitmo Judge
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — The military commission proceeding against five detainees allegedly responsible for the September 11th terrorist attacks is slowly inching…
The Tangled History of Confederate Generals at West Point and in the US Army: What’s in a Name?
In an article on renaming Lee Barracks at West Point, Benjamin Haas, who like myself is a West Point graduate, argued that the United States Military Academy should remove Robert…
No, the GOP Has Not “Rushed to Defend Trump” on Charlottesville—But Silence Can Be Deadly
A recent article in The Atlantic, titled “The Republican Establishment Stands Behind Trump” describes the reaction of “the institutional Republican Party” to the president’s…
West Point Grad: Rename Lee Barracks
West Point, my alma mater, is a source of great personal pride. It always has been, and it always will be. The institution has recently taken several steps worthy of particularly…