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Detailed defense counsel for Ammar al Baluchi, also known as Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, had the following to say today, about a key filing in the 9/11 case:
Today, counsel for Ammar al Baluchi filed a motion ...
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While the rest of the world is watching the Supreme Court's final decision day of the year, it's been a busy time in the cyber world as well. Herewith seven (!) bits and bytes of interest, in no particu...
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The New York Times reports this morning that weeks before Blackwater guards massacred 17 civilians at Bagdad's Nisour Square in 2007, the State Department abandoned an inquiry into the security contracto...
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President Obama has exercised executive power aggressively – as did his predecessor, albeit in different ways. I don’t have time to parse and compare the differences, but in a nutshell (and simplifying ...
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On Thursday, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper released the Statistical Transparency Report Regarding Use of National Security Authorities for Calendar Year 2013. The introduction reads:...
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The Supreme Court's unanimous decision in Riley v. California that searching a cell phone requires a warrant is groundbreaking---and is, as everyone says, a great step forward for privacy. The decision i...
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From the Borowitz Report at the New Yorker. Pretty excellent.
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For those who follow events relating to armed conflict, including the laws of war, there is a new resource available -- Blue Force Tracker. BFT is an app now available free download on the Apple or Goog...
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Editor's Note: The war in Syria has attracted volunteers to fight from around the world, including from the United States. Although senior U.S. officials have warned of this threat, the legal foundation ...
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All roads lead to Iran---at least in the news these days. There's the nuclear talks, which are coming to a head. There's common interests between the United States and the Islamic Republic in the conflic...
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[Update: A colleague writes in to say that Khatalla may have been in "civilian" custody, formally speaking, all along. That may be; I recall a statement after the capture to the effect that the raid wa...
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The week began with the Department of Justice’s release, under a Second Circuit court ruling, of a redacted version of an Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memo that outlined the government’s justification f...
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I'm surprised this hasn't generated more attention: First, an article in the New York Times yesterday mentioned, right at the very end, the possibility that in addition to the 300 special operators heade...
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That's the gist of this Rule 28(j) letter, regarding pertinent post-argument authority. It was filed today with the D.C. Circuit by lawyers for Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al Bahlul, whose case could be dec...
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As Wells noted a few days ago, the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon issued an opinion this week in Latif v. Holder, which held unconstitutional certain redress procedures for individuals on...
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As we have noted in the past, there is a brewing fight over who controls the naming function for the internet. I suspect that some who've read these posts have wondered if they were truly germane to nat...
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Footnote 44 of the recently released and much-discussed OLC Awlaki memorandum is heavily redacted, but what's left reads, in part:
Nor would the fact that CIA personnel would be involved in the operat...
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Today’s news coverage begins with Syria for a change. The Associated Press reports that President Obama has requested $500 million from Congress to arm and train vetted, pro-Western members of moderate S...
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President Obama yesterday sent the letter to the Speaker of the House, and to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. Its text reads as follows:
Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)
As I reported o...
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The Stimson Center released today the report of its Task Force on US Drone Policy. The ten-member task force, of which I was a member, was chaired by General John Abizaid and Rosa Brooks. The report m...
