Obama, Holder, Verrilli and the Mark of Civil Rights History
Leaving aside the heinous 3/5 compromise set forth by James Wilson and Roger Sherman at the founding Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, American history is marked by significant moments of dedication to civil rights for its citizens. Far…
Courts Won't Be Reviewing Legality of Counterterrorism Programs Anytime Soon
By a 5-4 party line vote, SCOTUS denied standing in Amnesty v. Clapper today.
The majority opinion, written by Sam Alito, emphasizes separation of power.
The law of Article III standing, which is built on separation-of-powers principles,…
What Is the Overlap between Signature Strikes and "Side Payment" Counter-Insurgency Drone Strikes?
ProPublica has a very worthwhile article drawing attention back to signature drone strikes.
My favorite part is their focus on John Brennan's effort to dodge a question about signature strikes last year, which happened not long before anonymous…
JSOC or CIA? Secrecy Inherent in US GWOT Impedes Wardak Investigation
In his article that the New York Times today cowardly labelled as "news analysis" rather than straight reporting, Matthew Rosenberg makes a number of astute observations regarding Afghan accusations that groups affiliated with US Special…
The Repeated Concern about Brennan: His Ties to Saudis
In a piece questioning President Obama's second term cabinet, David Ignatius describes John Brennan (who will be voted out of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday) this way:
Obama’s choice for CIA director is also telling. The White…
DiFi Makes Her Point ... Maybe?
The day after the stench of torture ruined Zero Dark Thirty's Oscar hopes, Reuters reports that the Senate Intelligence Committee has dropped its probe of the movie.
One day after "Zero Dark Thirty" failed to win major awards at the Oscars,…
The Most Transparent Administration Ever Hides More OLC Opinions
Ryan Reilly has liberated a list -- such as DOJ would release -- of the OLC opinions written under Obama. As he notes, DOJ has refused to even give him a list, much the number, of the classified OLC memos.
What's more interesting is what wasn't…
US Media Shocked--Shocked!!--by Press Secretary's Glomar on Drones
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Kudos to Chris Hayes for getting his now MSNBC colleague Robert Gibbs to admit that he was instructed, effectively, to give a Glomar -- neither confirm nor deny --…
DOD Uses Sequester to Excuse 5 Year Delay in Implementing Basic Network Security
More than 22 months ago, I wrote a post analyzing Congressional testimony describing the gaping holes in DOD network security 3 years after a nasty malware infection and a year after the publication of Collateral Murder by WikiLeaks.
Almost…
Karzai Expels Special Operations Forces From Afghan Province Over Program at Heart of Petraeus' "Success"
Today's story in the Washington Post covering Afghan President Hamid Karzai's decree expelling US Special Operations forces from a province just outside Kabul illustrates how completely the upper levels of the US military have been ignoring…
What if China Not Just Hacked -- But Sabotaged -- the F-35?
Over the last week, two perennial stories have again dominated the news. China continues to be able to hack us -- including top DC power players -- at will. And the F-35 has suffered another setback, this time a crack in an engine turbine…
DOJ Used the Open Access Guerilla Manifesto to Do More than Justify Prosecution, They Justified a Search of Aaron Swartz' Home
Yesterday, the HuffPo caught up to reporting I did in January, reporting that DOJ used Aaron Swartz' 2008 Guerilla Open Access Manifesto to justify their investigation of him.
A Justice Department representative told congressional staffers…
John Yoo and the Obama White Paper and Killing Americans in America and Yemen
Just for shits and giggles, compare this paragraph:
In the normal domestic law enforcement context, the use of deadly force is considered a "seizure" under the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court has examined the constitutionality of the use…
The White House's Self-Authorization to Use Military Force in Algeria and Mali
Back when the Administration dug in its heels over releasing 7 OLC memos on targeted killing, I suggested at least some of the authorized targeted killing in places we're not at war.
This National Journal story seems to suggest that that's…
Obama Administration Not Meeting Transparency Standard Set by Bush Lawyer Steven Bradbury
Glenn Greenwald has a great post on the Administration's refusal to say whether it can kill Americans inside the US. But he misstates how extreme Obama's refusal to share Office of Legal Counsel memos is. That's because he equates an Administration…
Harold Koh and the First Office of Legal Counsel Memo
When I compared what appeared in Eric Holder's March 2012 targeted killing speech and the targeted killing white paper, I discovered two sections that appear in Holder but not the white paper: a section on leaders as targets.
Furthermore,…
NATO Wants US to Buy $22 Billion SOFA in Afghanistan
Both Reuters and the New York Times carry stories this morning reporting that NATO has floated the idea of extending the 352,000 Afghan National Security Force size for a number of years beyond the current plan that calls for it to fall significantly…
DOJ Gives Blackwater a Whitewash On Felony Charges
Something funny happened in the Eastern District of North Carolina today. Out of the blue in an extremely significant case, and without particular notice to interested observers, much less the public, the criminal case against former Blackwater…
Did Susan Collins Switch Parties? Cause She Wanted OLC Memos, Too
I hate to waste an entire post on this.
But the NYT's report last night that President Obama was going to capitulate to the Benghazi truthers rather than turn over memos revealing who and where he has been killing people -- as well as all…
Disappearances Are Back. Is the US Involved (Again)?
Back in the 1970s, when various Latin American countries were disappearing their citizens, the US was closely tied to those efforts via Operation Condor.
According to Human Rights Watch, Mexico is now in the Disappearance business as part…