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You Are an Operational Commander of AQAP Reading the White House Fact Sheet
Along with President Obama's speech yesterday on counterterrorism policy, the White House released a document titled Fact Sheet: U.S. Policy Standards and Procedures for the Use of Force in Counterterror... -
Summary: D.C. Circuit Affirms Habeas Denial in Al Warafi
As Wells reported this morning, the D.C. Circuit has affirmed the habeas denial in Al Warafi. Mukhtar Yahia Naji Al Warafi unsuccessfully argued that even if he was a member of the Taliban, he was entitl... -
The President's Speech: Lawmakers React to Obama's Renewed Transfer Efforts
Among the policies President Obama announced in his speech: a renewed commitment to transfer detainees to third countries, where possible. To that end, he said he would appoint a new GTMO-focused envoy a... -
Reactions to the President’s Speech
My reactions to the President’s speech can be found in this essay at the CFR page. The headline writers gave it the title of Obama Passes the Buck: The President's Empty Rhetoric on Counterterrorism. T... -
Today’s Headlines and Commentary
Coverage of President Obama’s speech yesterday is plentiful: Here are Peter Baker of the New York Times, Karen DeYoung and Greg Miller of the Washington Post, and Mark Mazzetti of the Times with an -
District Court Denies Preliminary Injunction in Abdullah
In 2010, Yemeni detainee Hani Abdullah had sought a preliminary injunction from the district court. He argued that the United States had to treat him in accordance with an executive agreement concluded ... -
D.C. Circuit Affirms Habeas Denial in Al Warafi
Judge David Sentelle wrote today's majority opinion in this long-running habeas case, in which Mukhtar Yahia Naji Al Warafi had claimed (among other things) that even if he was a Taliban member, he serve... -
The President's Speech: A Quick and Dirty Reaction--Part 4 (Hedging on the Drone Court)
There are a number of areas in the president's speech yesterday in which Obama publicly aligns himself with critics of his administration, while promising in hard terms very little. As I described yester... -
The President's Speech: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The President's speech was a dog's breakfast: some good parts, some bad parts, and some ugly parts. The Good. The most significant part of the speech was the President's description of clearer standar... -
The President’s Speech: A Quick and Dirty Reaction—Part 3 (Did the President Narrow the Targeting Criteria for Drone Strikes?)
Perhaps the most puzzling and opaque aspect of President Obama's speech today involves the question of whether he did, or didn't, narrow the criteria for targeting in drone strikes. -
The President's Speech: A Quick and Dirty Reaction--Part 2 (Guantanamo)
President Obama made two important announcements about aspects of Guantanamo and its detainees in his speech today. These are worth flagging before I pivot and harp on the big problem with the President'... -
The President’s Speech: A Quick and Dirty Reaction—Part 1 (Are We at War?)
One week ago, a senior Pentagon official went before the Senate Armed Services Committee, along with the Pentagon's top lawyers, and declared that the armed conflict with Al Qaeda and its associated forc...
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