Congressional Oversight
435 Articles
SFRC Access to Intelligence Information During Force Authorization Debate
On Wednesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on the Administration’s proposed strategy to defeat the Islamic State featuring Secretary of State John Kerry. …
Fast and Furious: Mixed Ruling in Oversight Committee v. Holder
This week, Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued an important opinion in Oversight Committee v. Holder, ongoing litigation in federal court in the District of Columbia. After the House…
Why (Some) Secrecy is Good for Civil Liberties
A few weeks back, Ben Wittes wrote a controversial post over at Lawfare on the latest Snowden disclosures, arguing that, “If you’re okay with dumping in the lap of a journalist…
A Response to General Dunlap
First a caveat—I have worked with many honorable national security law experts who do exceptional scholarship and whose perspective I find extremely valuable, just as I have…
Interpretation and Retaliation in the Obama Administration
Caitlin Hayden’s statement last week on “why it was lawful” to exchange five Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo for Sergeant Bergdahl, “notwithstanding the notice requirement…
Benghazi Oversight: The Composition of the Select Committee
This post provides an initial assessment of the composition of the newly formed House Select Committee on Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi. Over several…
Civilian Casualty Rates in CIA vs. DOD Drone Programs: Apples and Oranges
Much attention has been given to whether CIA-directed or DOD-directed drone strikes result in fewer civilian casualties. Last week I wrote about the mixed evidence when it comes…
Benghazi Oversight Updates: Of “Smoking Guns,” Judges & Committee Rifts
There have been a few developments over the last week in the ongoing congressional oversight activity related to the terrorist attack on U.S. personnel and facilities in Benghazi,…
Hersh’s Syria Conspiracy Theory: The CIA and Intelligence Oversight Questions
In a previous post, I discussed the Senate Intelligence Committee report on the attack against U.S. facilities and personnel in Benghazi, Libya. That post contemplated bias by…
Afghanistan Withdrawal & Wartime Contract Oversight
Ukraine notwithstanding, many recent conflicts have been asymmetrical and sub-state, with ramifications for various legal doctrines, including the law of armed conflict, humanitarian…
Constitutional Conflict & Congressional Oversight
This week has seen a long-smoldering Senate investigation of CIA torture allegations burst into a public conflagration between the CIA and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.…
Benghazi Oversight: What New Congressional Reports Tell Us about Committee Clients
This week, the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) issued a 31-page majority interim report on the September 11-12, 2012 attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya. The HASC…