Terrorism & Violent Extremism
Just Security provides expert legal and policy analysis of terrorism, counterterrorism, and domestic and international violent extremism.
2,268 Articles
Medical Repatriation of Aging Guantanamo Detainees: The case of Al-Adahi
Mohammed Al-Adahi, a Yemeni national who has been detained at Guantanamo for more than 12 years and was approved for conditional release in 2010, has been described by his lawyers…
The important and difficult issues in the al-Nashiri case: When did the war begin? And was the COLE bombing a war crime?
The tragic bombing of the USS COLE by al Qaeda operatives in October 2000 was a heinous crime. Even if it occurred as part of an armed conflict between the United States and…
President Authorizes Airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq—But how limited is it?
On Thursday night, President Obama announced that he has authorized airstrikes “if necessary” for “two missions” in Iraq (full text of the President’s statement). Mission…
Deferential D.C. Circuit Upholds Genital Searches at Guantánamo
I’ve written before about the potential significance of the Guantánamo “counsel access” case—Hatim v. Obama–which raised the question of whether…
The Accountability Matrix Widens: Torture, Black Sites and the European Convention
Long awaited decisions by the European Court of Human Rights emerged last week (initially reported here) that substantially address torture and the complicity of European states…
Rejoinder to David Cole
In his reply to my guest post of yesterday, David Cole criticizes me for offering an imperfect defense of counter-terrorism stings. Actually, his criticism does not go far…
The Problems with Counterterrorism Stings: A Response to Samuel Rascoff
[Editor’s note: Don’t miss, Samuel Rascoff’s rejoinder to David Cole’s post, which was subsequently published here on Just Security.] In his guest post…
European Court of Human Rights rules against Poland in CIA “black site” case
The European Court of Human Rights has handed down its much-awaited judgments in the cases of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri v. Poland and Abu Zubaydah v. Poland. The cases were brought…
Sting Operations and Counterterrorism: What’s Really at Stake?
Attorney General Eric Holder was in Europe last week, touting the virtues of American-style counter-terrorism, including the prominent use of stings operations against would-be…
The Illusion of Justice report and the Use of “Radicalization Theories” in Counterterrorism Sting Operations
[Tarek Z. Ismail is co-author of Illusion of Justice: Human Rights Abuses in US Terrorism Prosecutions, a report co-published by Human Rights Watch and the Columbia Law School…
Letter to the Editor — Lt. Colonel David J. R. Frakt: What will Happen to al Bahlul?
I want to thank my esteemed colleagues Steve Vladeck and Marty Lederman for their very illuminating discussion of the D.C. Circuit’s recent decision in al Bahlul. I was Mr.…
What’s Left of Hamdan II? Quite a Lot, Actually…
Although it’s a bit further into the weeds than the issues Marty and I flagged in yesterday’s lengthy analysis of the en banc D.C. Circuit’s decision in al…