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The Latest European Court of Human Rights Ruling on Accountability for Torture
In another important decision on European participation in the US war on terrorism, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued a judgment late last month against Italy for…
Closing Guantánamo: Before You Accuse Congress, Take a Look at Your Administration
Five years ago today, President Obama issued Executive Order 13567, which established the Periodic Review Board (PRB) process to review every “forever” detainee in Guantánamo…
Are People in Islamic State Training Camps Legitimate Targets?
As of March 1st, the US-led anti-Islamic State (IS) coalition had conducted a total of 10,715 strikes, including 7,159 in Iraq and 3,556 in Syria. Much concern has been expressed…
A Primer on the “Cessation of Hostilities” in Syria and International Law
In case you missed it, the US and Russia brokered a “cessation of hostilities” arrangement for the war-torn county of Syria that went into effect last Saturday, February…
Improving the Recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Biodefense Report
The tragic saga of the death of Thomas Eric Duncan from Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) serves as a perfect demonstration of the shambolic state of biodefense in the United States in…
Torture and Transparency in the Military Commissions
America’s war court is back in session at Guantánamo, with yet more pretrial proceedings in the case of the five 9/11 defendants (alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,…
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…
Building Civil Liberties Protections Into the EU’s Latest Border Discussions
European officials are renewing efforts to secure their borders in the wake of last November’s Paris attack. At the end of last month, EU Interior Ministers met to solidify cooperation…
Justice Scalia, Privacy, and Where We Go From Here
When you work in privacy and civil liberties, you get accustomed to having strange bedfellows. Senator Bernie Sanders, Democratic socialist presidential candidate from Vermont,…
FBI’s Push to “Fix a Typo” Would Really Expand Its Surveillance Authority
At last week’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Worldwide Threats, FBI Director James Comey reiterated his call for a major expansion of the FBI’s surveillance authorities,…
Law Enforcement Online: Innovative Doesn’t Mean Illegal
Even the Wild West needed a sheriff. And today’s law enforcement agents, to be effective, need more than a Colt .45 and a gold star. Criminal actors have an increasing ability…
The New US Anti-Torture Law: A Genuine Step Forward
Just over two months ago, on the day before Thanksgiving, President Obama signed into law an important provision concerning torture that has garnered surprisingly little attention.…