Counterterrorism
512 Articles
My Priorities As UN Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism: The Problem of Permanent Emergencies
French soldiers patrolling a street of Saint Denis, France, during an anti-terrorist raid on November 18, 2015. France has been under a government-declared state of emergency…
Gun Violence Deserves As Robust a Response as Terrorism
When videos from the mass shooting in Las Vegas began circulating on social media last Sunday night, I immediately recognized the rapid sound of automatic gunfire. I knew the sound…
Addendum to My “Memo to the Human Rights Community” (on drone strikes outside of “hot battlefields”)
On Wednesday, I published an essay at Just Security titled, “Why the Laws of War Apply to Drone Strikes Outside “Areas of Active Hostilities” (A Memo to the Human Rights…
A Response to Goodman’s “Memo to the Human Rights Community”
Ryan Goodman’s “Memo to the Human Rights Community” is a perplexing critique that takes a surprising tone, coming from a former U.S. government official who worked on these…
Why the Laws of War Apply to Drone Strikes Outside “Areas of Active Hostilities” (A Memo to the Human Rights Community)
Reports that the White House is poised to revise a four-year old set of policy restrictions on drone strikes and other lethal operations has generated a heated debate that turns…
Three Half-Truths on U.S. Lethal Operations and Policy Constraints
Late last week, Charlie Savage and Eric Schmitt of the New York Times reported that President Donald Trump might soon adopt a new policy on U.S. lethal operations outside hot warzones.…
Trump’s New Drone Strike Policy: What’s Any Different? Why It Matters
[Editor’s note: this article was originally published on September 21, 2017 at 9:50 PM] After months of continued tough talk and recent assurances that the United States…
What Can Stop the Next Black Hawk Down: Risks to Special Operation Forces in the Trump Era
(Editors’ note: This article first appeared as a three-part series. We are reproducing it here in full.) Twenty-four years ago this month, President Bill Clinton, a first-term…
We Shouldn’t Forget the Lessons of Black Hawk Down: Part I
Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment in Somalia, 1993. (Editors’ note: This article is the first of a three-part series by the author on the Trump administration’s…
French Anti-Terror Bill Threatens To Extend State of Emergency Abuses
The French Senate voted 229 to 106 earlier this month to approve a controversial new anti-terrorism bill, titled the “Draft Law to Strengthen Internal Security and the Fight…
Fighting Terrorism Without Dividing Us: Why Congress Must Look Beyond Countering Violent Extremism
On Thursday July 27, the National Security Subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing on “Combatting Homegrown Terrorism.”…
Hyping the Terrorist Threat: Trump Makes an Old Problem Worse
For the better part of two decades, American policymakers have struggled to explain the nature of the terrorist threat facing the United States. Mayors, governors, and members…