Drones
312 Articles
A brief response to Gabor Rona on the use of force by non-military personnel
Gabor Rona is correct, of course, that (absent a later-in-time statutory override) U.S. use of force must comply with international law, regardless of the identity of the U.S.…
When Considering CIA Targeted Killings, Don’t Forget International Law!
Last week, Marty Lederman addressed the legality and wisdom of CIA engagement in targeted killings under domestic law. Applicable international law, however, suggests that CIA…
Should (and can) the CIA use non-covert force against ISIL in Iraq and Syria?
Ken Delanian of NBC has an important new story (written and video) about an apparent interbranch dispute concerning whether the CIA should be authorized to use force against ISIL…
How Should International Law Deal With Doubt in the Era of Drones and Big Data?
Recent reports on the NSA’s use of metadata and machine learning to generate intelligence for drone strikes in Pakistan spotlights the somewhat less-discussed legal concerns…
D.C. Circuit Quietly Set to Hear Major National Security Appeals
Given the rather significant legal news of the past four days, it’s easy to forget that a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit (Tatel, Griffith, & Sentelle, JJ.) is…
Still Secret: Second Circuit Keeps More Drone Memos From the Public
Secret law has been anathema to our democracy since its Founding, but a federal appeals court just gave us more of it. Almost two centuries ago, James Madison wrote that “[a]…
Challenges New Weapons and Humanitarian Assistance Present for International Law
Editor’s Note: This is the fourth post in a miniseries about the International Committee of the Red Cross’s newly released Report on International Humanitarian Law and the…
The Assassination Ban and Targeted Killings
In public speeches, administration officials have criticized the use of the word “assassination” to characterize targeted killings carried out by the United States. The administration’s…
The Imperative of a “Drone Court”
With the recent release of The Intercept’s Drone Papers, it is an apt time to revisit the imperative of creating a check on an executive branch exercising lethal force without…
Video: Obama’s Drone Legacy, A Conversation With Scott Shane
What will be the legacy of President Obama’s drone program? How will the next president use armed drones and targeted killings? What was the political and legal significance…
Drone Disclosures, Official and Not
As readers of this blog already know, last week The Intercept published a series of fascinating stories about the US drone campaign. The stories, and the official documents that…
UK’s Legal Rationale for Drone Strikes Differs Fundamentally From US Rationale
Much of the public commentary concerning the UK’s targeted strike in Syria against a British national who had joined ISIS (along with other individuals with him at the time)…