Military
813 Articles
Hostile Intent and Civilian Protection: Lessons From Recent Conflicts
Is a driver speeding toward a military checkpoint launching a suicide attack or racing his pregnant wife to the hospital? Is a local man digging on a roadside at night planting…
War Crimes and the Use of Improvised and Indiscriminate Weapons in Syria
Editor’s note: This is the latest in a continuing series about alleged war crimes in Syria. You can find the previous installments here and here. While several sides of the conflict…
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.…
Is Money a Legitimate Target?
Last month, the United States targeted a “cash distribution site” where millions of dollars belonging to ISIS had reportedly been stored. The target was considered so valuable…
A Wider Talent Pool Means a Stronger Marine Corps: A Response to Rep. Hunter
In a January 8 interview with Politico, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) asserted that Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus’s support for opening all combat roles in the Marine Corps…
Let’s Start Calling Combat Combat
On Tuesday, a Special Forces soldier died and two others were injured in a skirmish with Taliban fighters near Marjah in the Helmand province of southern Afghanistan. Al Asad air…
“Expansion” or contraction?: The case of Special Operations forces in the Middle East
In today’s New York Times, Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt have a very interesting and informative story about President Obama’s use of Special Operations Forces in the U.S.…
Serial Angst
I’m one of the many who loved the first season of Serial — the Peabody Award-winning podcast spun off from NPR’s This American Life. It wasn’t just that the case of Adnan…
Add Women and Stir? Women in the Military
At a midday Press Conference in the Pentagon Briefing Room, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter unexpectedly announced that that the Pentagon will open all combat jobs to women. He…
Abstention and the “Other” D.C. Circuit Military Commission Appeal
Lots of attention has been focused both here and elsewhere in recent days on tomorrow’s en banc oral argument before the D.C. Circuit in “Al Bahlul IV,” which makes a lot…
Foreign Fighters, Mercenaries, and Private Military Companies Under International Law
Editor’s Note: This is the third post in a miniseries about the International Committee of the Red Cross’s newly released Report on International Humanitarian Law and the Challenges…
The Mavi Marmara Appeal: The ICC Prosecutor Wins by Losing
This post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections” feature, in which a different Just Security editor examines the big stories from the previous week or looks…