Congressional Oversight
440 Articles
McCain’s Hearing Threat and the Bergdahl Court-Martial
Last month, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, stated his opinion that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who is currently facing charges before a…
Amid Calls for UN Investigation Into Kunduz Strike, US Senator Suggests that the UN Does Not Investigate Taliban Abuses. He’s Wrong.
Today, following calls for an independent inquiry into the US airstrike on the MSF hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) – during a Senate Armed Services…
Congressional Due Process Failure: A Benghazi Example
The consequences of congressional scrutiny can be profound for the subjects of lawmakers’ investigations, yet the second Congress calls, almost none of the safeguards of the…
Chris Soghoian on Collaboration Between Lawyers, Technologists, and Policymakers
As faithful readers of our site are hopefully aware, Just Security will be celebrating its second anniversary on Monday with an event dedicated to exploring one of the most important…
Is al-Qaeda v Islamic State the Right Question?
Which terrorist group is a bigger threat to the United States, al-Qaeda or the Islamic State (IS)? It almost sounds like the sort of question you’d put to a child comparing movie…
It’s Time for a Review of the Forever War
It’s been more than 5,000 days and the global conflict started after September 11 shows no sign of ending. Last week, the Pentagon released its latest National Military Strategy…
The OPM Hack and the New DOD Law of War Manual
Last Friday was a big day in cybersecurity news. OPM announced that, in addition to the compromise of the personnel information of federal employees revealed on June 4, Chinese…
The Senate’s Guantánamo Bill: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
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 week or looks…
Chris Soghoian on What’s Wrong With the Debate on Section 215
It’s great that the sunset of Section 215 has reignited the debate about mass surveillance in the United States, but all the focus on this one provision, more specifically on…
Congress Just Gave the President Power to Adopt a Binding Legal Agreement with Iran
With a veto-proof majority, Congress has now adopted the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, which is purportedly designed to enforce Congress’ constitutional prerogatives.…
USA Freedom and the Surveillance Reform That Almost Was
Committee markups can be a dry affair, an opportunity for political showboating, or both. Yesterday’s markup of the USA Freedom Act in the House Judiciary Committee was neither.…
The Intelligence Time Machine
On Tuesday, members in the House and Senate introduced new versions of the USA Freedom Act that would prohibit bulk collection of records under Section 215 of the Patriot Act,…