Targeted Killing
245 Articles
Washington’s New Drone Sales Policy Could Export US-Style Drone War
This week, the United States released a new policy for the export of US-made drones. The policy conditions any drone sale on a pledge by the foreign buyer government that it will…
Did the U.S.-Israeli killing of Mughniyah violate international law?
Over the weekend, The Washington Post reported on a joint U.S.-Israeli operation that killed Imad Mughniyah—Hezbollah’s reported chief of international operations—on the…
Towards a Global Debate? UN Human Rights Council Takes on Drones
On Monday, the UN Human Rights Council’s (HRC) expert panel on the use of armed drones and international law, expressed clear consensus around the need for greater transparency…
Human rights groups petition UN on drone strikes
At the UN Human Rights Council this week, a coalition of human rights groups is calling on all governments to take steps to monitor and promote transparency and legal compliance…
The Erosion of a Secret
Drone Timeline (Click to Enlarge) In connection with an ACLU Freedom of Information Act lawsuit pending before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the CIA has…
Targeting Al-Shabaab’s Godane is not the same as targeting Al-Shabaab
On Monday, the US military conducted an airstrike in Somalia, in which the primary target was reportedly Ahmed Abdi Godane, the leader of the militant group Al-Shabaab. Based…
Australia’s collateral damage in the US drone program
In the last few years there has been a hotly contested global debate about the civilian impact of the U.S. drone strike program and its moral and legal justifications. Despite…
Did the U.S. drone strike and secretly compensate Yemeni civilians?
New documentary evidence has emerged indicating that the families of those killed in a controversial December 2013 U.S. strike in Yemen received upwards of $1 million dollars in…
Multiple Choice: Who Said This on Transparency and Targeted Killings Across State Borders?
Question: Who said this? “While the U.S. regards attacks on terrorists being protected in the sovereign territory of other States as potentially justifiable when undertaken in…
New Court Orders Signal More Drone Documents Are on the Way
For more than four years of Freedom of Information Act litigation concerning the government’s targeted-killing program, the government managed to avoid releasing a single document…
Social Science Data on Public Reactions to Drone Strikes and Civilian Casualties
One of the hats I wear is that of a social scientist. I don’t often write at Just Security in that capacity, but recent empirical research — on public attitudes toward…
You Can’t Have an “Associated Force” with No Core
There has been lots of commentary already on the newly-released (but heavily-redacted) OLC opinion, so I’ll focus mine on a key point I haven’t yet seen made. The OLC memo…