Congressional Oversight
443 Articles

Despite Years of Recommendations, Government Still Rewards Bad Policies for Body Cameras
In the last several years, we have seen a boom in the use of police body cameras. Departments across the country have adopted the cameras, and most of the nation’s largest cities…

“Congressional Authorizations on Use of Force,” by Defense Dep’t Principal Deputy General Counsel William Castle (Full Text)
On Monday evening, William S. Castle, the Pentagon’s top lawyer, gave a speech entitled, “Congressional Authorizations on Use of Force?,” at the New York City Bar Association.…

The House Intelligence Committee’s Section 702 Markup Was a Politicized Debacle
On Dec. 1, 2017, the House Intelligence Committee took the unusual step of holding an open markup of its bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance…

Why Microsoft Challenged the Right Law: A Response to Orin Kerr
This coming spring, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in the United States v. Microsoft – a case that will determine the authority of U.S. law enforcement to compel, via…

Responding to the Myths About Reforming FISA’s Section 702
Image: National Security Agency headquarters, Fort Meade, Md. As the New Year’s deadline for reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) approaches,…

Warrantless Backdoor Searches are Not “Business as Usual”
This week, Just Security ran two posts, one by Matt Olsen and one by Asha Rangappa, defending the government’s warrantless access to Americans’ communications obtained “incidentally”…

Former Prosecutor Renato Mariotti’s Tweet Threads on National Security (Nov. 25-Dec. 1)
Here is an exposition and analysis of some of this week’s national security-related threads authored by Just Security Editorial Board member and former federal prosecutor Renato…

Flynn’s Turkish Delight: How, Why, and When He Reversed His Policy Positions on Turkey
Many commentators anticipate that Special Counsel Robert Mueller will likely indict retired lieutenant general Michael Flynn in part for the former National Security Advisor’s…

Former Prosecutor Renato Mariotti’s Tweet Threads on National Security (Nov. 10-17)
Here is an exposition and analysis of some of this week’s national security-related threads authored by Just Security Editorial Board member and former federal prosecutor…

Congress Steps Up Accountability for Drones Strikes and Other Military Operations
On the same day that The New York Times Magazine published a disturbing account of the monumental gap between the number of acknowledged civilian casualties and the number of casualties…

Episode 46 of the National Security Law Podcast: The $15 Million Dollar Man
In this week’s episode, your devoted hosts dig into a bonanza of national security law odds-and-ends. First up is an en banc decision by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance…

Russian Money and Trump’s Legal Defense
Piece by piece, we continue to learn about Russia’s assault on the 2016 election: cyberattacks on voting systems in 39 states; troll farms that pushed divisive political messages…