Law enforcement
480 Articles
UK Supreme Court Upholds Lawfulness of Questioning in Airports
In January 2011, Mrs. Sylvie Beghal and her three children were returning from a trip to Paris, where they had been visiting her husband, a French national in custody “in relation…
The Government’s Wiretap Orders Still Don’t Add Up
Last week, I pointed out that the Administrative Office (AO) of the US Courts’ 2014 Wiretap Report numbers didn’t add up to the total number of wiretaps that AT&T, Verizon,…
The FBI’s Problem Isn’t “Going Dark.” Its Problem is Going Slowly
It should be clear to even casual observers today that the “golden age of surveillance” thesis is fundamentally correct. We live in a time when far more data and surveillance…
Describing Violence: The Charleston Shootings and the Label of Terrorism
Soon after the Charleston church shooting, FBI Director James Comey argued that Dylann Roof’s actions probably weren’t terrorism, eliciting criticism that law enforcement employs…
It’s Time to End the “Debate” on Encryption Backdoors
Yesterday, on Lawfare, FBI Director James Comey laid out his concern that the growing adoption of strong encryption technologies will frustrate law enforcement’s ability to conduct…
Wiretap Numbers Don’t Add Up
Last week, the Administrative Office (AO) of the US Courts published the 2014 Wiretap Report, an annual report to Congress concerning intercepted wire, oral, or electronic communications…
Tightening the National Security Ratchet
A ratchet is a device that employs mechanical impediments to allow movement in only one direction. As such, it is a useful metaphor for national security policy, where restrictive…
Has the Gov’t Under-Charged an al-Qaeda Recruit?: The Ohio case of Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud
An important criminal charge is conspicuously absent in the Indictment of Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud, who is reportedly “the first American accused of returning from Syria with…
Microsoft Case: The Government Responds, But Fails to Convince
The government has now filed its Second Circuit brief in the dispute with Microsoft (discussed here, here, and here), challenging key assertions by Microsoft and its many amici,…
Case To Watch: Microsoft v. US on the Extraterritorial Reach of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act
On Monday, the government will be filing its brief in its case against Microsoft regarding the reach of the government’s warrant authority under the Electronic Communications…
You Should Care About Mutual Legal Assistance More Than You Do
About a year ago, I wrote here that the mutual legal assistance (MLA) regime – the legal system that regulates government-to-government requests for evidence in criminal investigations,…
It Will Take More Than Body Cameras to Restore Trust in Law Enforcement
Editors’ Note: The following post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections,” in which a different Just Security editor examines the big stories from the previous…