Congressional Oversight
443 Articles
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…
Bob Gates, Disclosure & Executive Privilege
Former Secretary Bob Gates ignited a brushfire of criticism for the timing, disclosures, and motivations of his new book, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War. Much of the reporting…
Benghazi Oversight: A Chairman’s Resistance to Inconvenient Facts
In a previous post, I argued that overwrought politicized congressional oversight about the attack of the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya would have a damaging effect…
Version 4.0 – Do We Need A New Privacy and Civil Liberties Board?
One aspect of the President’s Review Group report on NSA surveillance that has gone relatively unnoticed is the recommendation that the current Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight…
Tomorrow: Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on “Continued Oversight of U.S. Government Surveillance Authorities” [UPDATED]
[UPDATE: This post has been updated with links to the written statements of each panelists and a link to a video replay of the full hearing.] Tomorrow at 2:00p.m., Just Security…