Terrorism & Violent Extremism
Just Security provides expert legal and policy analysis of terrorism, counterterrorism, and domestic and international violent extremism.
2,228 Articles
General Dempsey’s Position on an AUMF for ISIL: The Good, the Bad, and the Confusing
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey gave his views of what a congressional authorization for the use of force against ISIL should contain, in an…
What it Really Means to “Close Guantánamo”
[Editors’ Note: This post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections” feature, in which a different Just Security editor examines the big stories from the previous…
AUMF Proposals and Congressionally Mandated Reporting Requirements: Some Guideposts
In his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, President Obama called on Congress to authorize force against the Islamic State. This was consistent with the line he has been walking…
Assessing (Again) the Defensive Operations in Syria
The military operations against the Islamic State and Khorasan group in Syria have already received a lot of attention among international lawyers. The conversation has focused…
2 Years and 55 Prisoners To Go: It’s Time for a Lot More Guantanamo Review Boards
In 2001, Tariq Mahmoud Ahmed al Sawah, a veteran of the war in Bosnia who’d joined up with al Qaeda in Afghanistan, landed in U.S. custody. Injured by a cluster bomb in the Afghan…
How to Interpret the UN Human Rights Committee’s Comment on National Security Detentions: State Party Submissions
Last October, the United Nations Human Rights Committee adopted General Comment No. 35 (GC) which has important implications for international law regulating detentions, including…
Al-Marri’s End and the Failed Experiment of Domestic Military Detention
In the coming days, Ali al-Marri, former enemy combatant, is scheduled to be released from federal criminal custody, clearing the way for his removal by immigration officials to…
ISIS Fighting Against Taliban: The Enemy of My Enemy Is …?
In a surprising twist, reports are emerging this week that the Islamic State (IS) is making inroads into Afghanistan, and has engaged in fighting against the Taliban there. Afghan…
The Shrinking Military Commissions
Yesterday’s news that the Convening Authority for the Guantánamo military commissions has “disapproved the findings and sentence,” and dismissed the charges…
Avoiding a “Militant Democratic” Response to the Paris Attacks
The dreadful Paris attack, even more than the recent and similar attacks in Australia and Canada, is likely to produce a demand for strong action. This is not only because the…
The Paris Attack and Terrorism’s Next Frontier
The Sydney and Paris attacks are manifestations of the long-predicted lone wolf threat posed by militant Islamism. Unfortunately, there will be more of these kind of attacks to…
No Impunity for Torturers [Updated]
[Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on December 15, 2014. Check out a substantial Update published on January 5, 2015 and appended below.] In a post called…