Guest Author
681 Articles
The Trump Administration Fails Tillerson’s Test
In recent weeks the Trump administration has approved the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Bahrain and warmly welcomed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to the White House,…
The International Legal Environment for Nuclear Deterrence
Russian spy ships stationed off the U.S. coast, provocative overflights of U.S. warships, and deployments of U.S. tanks in Central Europe are no longer artifacts of the Cold War,…
Incidental Collection Is Extremely Troubling, Regardless of Legality
A lot of ink has been spilled over statements by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Nunes that President Trump’s communications were incidentally collected pursuant to a surveillance…
Gutting the State Department is National Security Malpractice
If you think about national security in health terms, the State Department serves as a primary care physician, a vaccine researcher, a psychiatrist, a rehabilitation expert, and…
Drawing a Line on Mass Surveillance: How Congress Must Reform Section 702
RAF Menwith Hill in the United Kingdom, host to U.S. National Security Agency facilities. On Monday, members of the House Intelligence Committee held an open hearing into Russian…
Encryption Backdoors, Vault 7, and the Jurassic Park Rule of Internet Security
Surely without a hint of irony, just a day after WikiLeaks dumped a vault-load of documents detailing the Central Intelligence Agency’s use of hacking tools and software exploits,…
The “Travel Ban” Executive Order as Separation-of-Powers Test Case
The White House’s March 6 executive order “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States” (the March EO or the new EO) is a telling blend…
A Small Step Toward a Better House of Representatives
Today the Committee on House Administration took a small but important step to restore the House of Representatives as an effective legislative and oversight body. It voted unanimously…
It Ain’t Easy Getting a FISA Warrant: I Was an FBI Agent and Should Know
In his latest round of twiplash, President Trump on Saturday leveled a very serious accusation: that President Obama had personally ordered the “tapping” of telephone lines…
Violence in Cyberspace: Are Disruptive Cyberspace Operations Legal under International Humanitarian Law?
It is already widely acknowledged that cyberspace has become the fifth domain of warfare, and militaries around the world are training various cyber units, who will be supporting…
Whistleblower Retaliation: A Governmental Accountability and National Security Crisis
The role of an Inspector General (IG) office in a federal agency or department is to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, and where necessary refer criminal conduct to the Justice…
New Case Proves Intelligence Community Whistleblowers Have Protections
NSA headquarters, Ft. Meade, Md. In December, Adm. Mike Rogers, director of the NSA, placed the agency’s Inspector General (IG), Dr. George Ellard, on administrative leave and…