I’ve had a chance to read the draft Executive Order on cybersecurity now and several thoughts spring to mind. For those who like the bottom line up front: I am, honestly, of two minds about this effort....

Does anyone have any idea what this is about? In March 2011, the government made classified filings in 10 cases involving high-value detainees. The filings have never become public, and I have been wond...

Slate has an interesting article on this report concerning the acquisition by German law enforcement agencies of software for surveillance: Earlier this year, German politician Jan Korte submitted a s...

The British Supreme Court---in its Michaelmas Term---has handed down the case of Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs v. Rahmatullah. You might remember the Rahmatullah case, which we ...

Well, here's the "publicly circulating" draft of the executive order on cybersecurity, helpfully entitled: White House Draft Executive Order (Publicly Circulating Copy - 11-1-12).  Note however that is d...

The Supreme Court is not the only branch of government focused on FISA. As many Lawfare readers will recall, Congress is currently considering reauthorizing Title VII of FISA, which is scheduled to expir...

Back in March, we posted this teaser for our then-draft chapter on civil liberties and executive power during the War of 1812 which, as you all know, is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year. The b...

Peter Margulies of Roger Williams School of Law writes in with the following comments on Hamdan II--following up on his post immediately after the decision: Even if one agrees with the Hamdan II panel th...

Over at Opinio Juris, Kevin Jon Heller notes a new draft article he has posted on SSRN regarding the legality of signature strikes under international law. Kevin assures me that "Lawfare types certainly ...

Cornell's Jens David Ohlin has this interesting post over at his LieberCode blog, arguing that support offenses are far less necessary than Americans tend to think. It opens: A pair of recent court deci...

One  last post on Hurricane Sandy.  President Obama seems to get it even if the New York Times doesn't. As he said on Monday: The most important message that I have for the public right now is, please li...

I guess the NY Times op-ed has me a bit worked up.  So I went and did a bit more digging around on the basic question of whether or not Big Storms Require Big Government.  Here's what I learned today.  F...

I do not normally share Ben's disdain for the New York Times editorial page.  They are who they are and you know what you are going to see on their page before the publish it.  But today's editorial on H...

Thanks to an unexpected pair of days off, I've finally had the chance to review Judge Bates's October 19 rulings in Al-Maqaleh v. Gates ["Al-Maqaleh II"] and Hamidullah v. Obama. As readers know, these a...

Gabor Rona of Human Rights First took some time out from today's hurricane to send me the following thoughts on my post from Friday engaging Glenn Greenwald on the subject of counting civilian casualties...

All of DC is closed today as Hurricane Sandy comes ashore.  But the Old Guard continues its vigil.  I thought Lawfare readers might appreciate this photo:

Proving once again that the judiciary is the most hardcore of the three branches, the Supreme Court remains open for business this morning. The Justices will hear oral argument in Clapper v. Amnesty Inte...