Recent Articles

A collage of images from articles of the past week.

Digest of Recent Articles on Just Security (Oct. 30-Nov. 5)

Climate intelligence • Counterterrorism • Civilian casualties • Sanctions • January 6 attack • Social media platforms • Guantanamo • Sudan • Ethiopia • Afghanistan…
Air Force Inspector General Lt. Gen. Sami D. Said speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon, Washington D.C., November 3, 2021. An American flag stands beside him.

The Missing Kabul Drone Strike Report

"It is simply not credible that the entire investigative report must be withheld in order to protect (as one imagines the claim) sources and methods of intelligence-gathering."
An Investigator holds a piece of evidence as he and others search for evidence inside the wreckage of a Police bus at the site of a bomb blast in Kabul, 17 June 2007.

What the Afghanistan Withdrawal Teaches Us About Safeguarding Human Rights Evidence

As the Taliban seized control, evidence of human rights abuses had to be destroyed, hidden, or risk capture. It didn't have to be this way.
U.S. President George W. Bush meets with former and current Secretaries of State and Defense in the Roosevelt Room of the White House May 12, 2006 in Washington, DC. Clockwise from bottom left are former Secretary of State Warren Christopher, former Secretary of State James Baker, Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, former Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, former Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger, former Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci, former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney, President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

A Soldier and His Establishment: In the Life of Colin Powell, Who Failed Whom?

The question to ask is not what he should have done differently, but what, if anything, his life suggests we should do differently.

Early Edition: November 5, 2021

Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated weekday guide to major national security news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news.…
A sign for Camp Justice in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. Five flags waive from posts.

A Torture Survivor Speaks at the Guantanamo Military Commissions

Majid Khan described his torture by the United States for the first time in a case that also shows how plea agreements are the only realistic path for those charged in Guantanamo…
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz walk towards an open door on June 3, 2021, at the State Department in Washington, DC. The Israeli flag and American flag stand at the forefront of the photo.

The Downstream Effects of Israel’s “Terrorist” Designation on Human Rights Defenders in the US

The Israeli designation may be designed to trigger US counterterrorism sanctions - and chill human rights activism. Here are some options for the US response.
Internally displaced people (IDP's) from various woredas throughout North Gonder wait to retrieve Food Aid being distributed by the Amhara Emergency Fund at the Millennium School on October 10, 2021 in Debark, Ethiopia.

The Tigray Conflict at One Year: Ethiopia’s Descent into Famine and Civil War

Without deeper international engagement to pause the fighting and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid, the worst is yet to come.
Trump boards Marine One as he departs the White House on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. A person in military uniform salutes him as he passes.

No, Former Presidents Cannot Assert Executive Privilege. At Least Not Meaningfully.

"Former President Trump’s authority, if any, would be at the 'lowest conceivable ebb' by asserting a claim that is incompatible with Congress’s explicit act plus incompatible…
Members of the Kenyan polices General Service Unit (GSU) take part in a joint exercise hosted by the US embassy to build counter-terrorism capabilities, in Nairobi, Kenya, on October 30, 2021. They wear camouflage and headgear and carry large guns while walking past a truck with police lights.

An Undefined Defining Moment: Marking 20 Years of Counterterrorism Without Ever Agreeing What Terrorism Is

UN Security Council Resolution 1373 in 2001 created a sprawling global system that, rather than solving the problem, spawned widespread abuse.

Early Edition: November 4, 2021

Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated weekday guide to major national security news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news.…
Sudan's top army general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan holds a press conference at the General Command of the Armed Forces in Khartoum on October 26, 2021.

Sudan’s Constitutional Crisis: Dissecting the Coup Declaration

Suspending certain articles while retaining parts of the transitional deal cloaks a unilateral power-grab as merely a course correction.
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