Recent Articles

The Early Edition: May 11, 2018
Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. Before the start of business, Just Security provides a curated summary of up-to-the-minute developments at home and abroad.…

With Western Diplomacy Under Assault, Only European Stewardship Can Save It
The “Free World,” as a term for the global community of free-market democracies, owes its origins to Frank Capra’s 1943 propaganda film, Why We Fight, which laid out the…

DHS: Not Entitled to Its Own Facts
Despite DHS’s breathless claims to the contrary, its numbers don’t demonstrate a "continuing security crisis" along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Germany’s Research Report on the Syria Strikes: Unlawful Acts of Reprisal
Just hours after the United States, United Kingdom and France launched the first series of coordinated strikes against targets related to Syria’s chemical weapons program, Germany’s…

Ambiguity in the Conduct of Hostilities
This article is the latest in our Fog of Law series that examines the gray zones in international law and conflict that can be exploited by states. The series comes in advance…

The Early Edition: May 10, 2018
Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. Before the start of business, Just Security provides a curated summary of up-to-the-minute developments at home and abroad.…

Just Security Podcast: Laura Rozen on the Iran Deal
On a day that felt like it was dominated by headlines about Gina Haspel, Michael Cohen, and American hostages being freed from North Korea, Al-Monitor Diplomatic Correspondent…

Gina Haspel: Feminist Smokescreen, Not Choice
Over the weekend, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted that it would be hypocritical to at once “support women’s empowerment” and oppose the nomination of Gina…

The Fog of Law and the Jus Ad Bellum
This article is the latest in our Fog of Law series that examines the gray zones in international law and conflict that can be exploited by states. The series comes in advance…

The Diplomats Speak: More Opposition to Gina Haspel’s Nomination to Head the CIA
Above: CIA headquarters. An august group of 115 retired diplomats have now circulated their own letter (reproduced below) in opposition to the nomination of Gina Haspel to lead…

Can An Insider Save CIA From Itself?
As confirmation hearings loom for Gina Haspel to be director of CIA, the focus has understandably been on what actions she might have taken in the Agency’s enhanced interrogation…

Time to Dust Off the War Crimes Act?–for an American ex-soldier now in command of UAE forces
Former members of the U.S. military are present in armed conflicts across the globe. Working for private military contractors, they are typically tasked with training and advising…