The Week That Was

Molly Roberts parsed the government’s third proposed indictment of Letitia James, which an Alexandria grand jury rejected and made public. Roberts explained how the revised indictment compares to previously proposed indictments, as well as why the government’s efforts keep falling short. 

Benjamin Wittes wondered whom prosecutors consulted before trying to indict James a third time, given that the U.S. Attorneys’ Manual directs them not to present a no-billed case to another grand jury without permission from the “responsible United States attorney.”

On Lawfare Daily, Cristin Dorgelo and Rob Storch joined Tyler McBrien to discuss the Trump administration’s firing of personnel in offices of the inspector general, how those cuts erode oversight and hinder accountability, Dorgelo’s recent report with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and more.

On Lawfare Live, Wittes sat down with Anna Bower, Eric Columbus, and Loren Voss to discuss the D.C. Circuit’s staying a D.C. district court order that had blocked the deployment of National Guard members in D.C., updates in Dan Richman’s suit seeking the return of material seized by the government during its investigation of James Comey, and more.

On Lawfare Daily, McBrien sat down with Gauri Bahuguna, Setareh Ghandehari, Nayna Gupta, and Paromita Shah to discuss why the government outsources the critical immigration enforcement functions of deportation, interdiction, and detention to the private sector; how that outsourcing evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry; the recent release of Lawfare and SITU’s joint podcast “Deportation, Inc.;” and more.

Olivia Manes and Wittes discussed FBI Director Kash Patel’s habit of tweeting amid ongoing criminal investigations, examining how various posts of his have confused the public, publicized the identities of innocent “subjects,” and given people connected to alleged terrorists time to flee the country. Manes and Wittes emphasized the difference between public service and punditry and urged Patel to exercise greater discretion.

Wittes examined the legality of projecting an unflattering picture of Kash Patel onto the external walls of the FBI’s headquarters at the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C.

In a report for the Lawfare Research Initiative, Scott R. Anderson outlined a new strategy for social media platforms to follow when official government accounts are taken over by unrecognized or sanctioned groups like the Taliban.

On Lawfare Daily, Alan Rozenshtein sat down with Anderson to discuss Anderson’s report on how social media platforms should handle unrecognized regimes like the Taliban. The two discussed platforms’ response to the Taliban takeover in 2021, the concepts of recognition and de facto authority under international law, how this framework can be reconciled with U.S. and international sanctions requirements, and more.

In a Tuesday installment of Lawfare’s Foreign Policy Essay series, Jacob Ware examined “nihilistic violent extremism” (NVE), a category of terrorism that describes misanthropic, “meaningless” violence typically perpetrated by young people radicalized online. Ware compared NVE terrorists to incels and school shooters and discussed how terrorism analysts have criticized, tweaked, and embraced the NVE label.

Laura Field, the author of “Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right,” taught the second lesson of her 6-part class on the conservative intellectual movement and how it has shaped Donald Trump’s presidency as a part of the Lawfare Lecture series. You can gain access to these classes by becoming a paid supporter at Patreon or Substack. The lectures will also be published on Lawfare’s YouTube channel on a delayed timeline. 

On Rational Security, Anderson, Rozenshtein, and Ariane Tabatabai discussed the Trump administration’s decision to allow Nvidia to export its advanced H200 chips to China, the president’s executive order aimed at asserting federal preemption over state AI regulations, the mass shooting at a Hanukkah event on Australia’s Bondi Beach, and more.

In the latest issue of the Seriously Risky Business cybersecurity newsletter, Tom Uren discussed U.S. sanctions on two Russian state-backed hacktivist groups, a wiper attack on a Venezuelan state-run oil company, U.S. dependency on Chinese-made renewable energy technologies, and more.

On Scaling Laws, Rozenshtein, Kevin Frazier, and Jakub Kraus discussed President Trump’s new executive order on federally preempting state AI laws, the politics of AI regulation and the split between Silicon Valley Republicans and MAGA populists, the administration’s decision to let Nvidia export H200 chips to China, and more.

On another episode of Scaling Laws, ​​Jacob Mchangama and Jacob N. Shapiro joined Renée DiResta and Rozenshtein to discuss a new report examining how artificial intelligence (AI) models handle contested speech ​​and politically sensitive prompts, comparative free speech regulations across six jurisdictions, the tension between free expression principles and concerns about manipulation in AI systems, and more.

Roy L. Austin Jr. reviewed Bruce Schneier and Nathan E. Sanders’s, “Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship.” Austin highlighted the book’s accessible explanation of artificial intelligence’s potential benefits and harms to democracy but noted that a number of the authors’ proposed safeguards are either vague or already obsolete.

Cristian Trout argued that a well-steered insurance market can function as a sort of private governance over artificial intelligence (AI) development by correcting perverse incentives and promoting AI safety. Trout outlined a series of steps insurers and policymakers can take to facilitate that salutary regulation of AI by insurance firms.

Daniel Wilf-Townsend evaluated the prospect of regulating artificial intelligence that has achieved “continual learning”—the capacity to meaningfully update itself as it acquires new information. Wilf-Townsend described how the capacity for continual learning could complicate both safety research and liability distribution, as well as how regulators could potentially adapt to this development. 

Jim Dempsey and Andrew Grotto examined the U.S.’s spotty regulatory framework governing cybersecurity for operational technology (OT) critical to military preparedness. The authors outlined specific ways the Pentagon could address those regulatory gaps using its power to set standards for services it purchases.

Voss analyzed the prioritization of national security threats, the rationale for international cooperation, and the overarching vision of America conveyed in the Trump administration’s 2025 National Security Strategy.

Peter Beck shared a White House executive order designating “illicit fentanyl” as a weapon of mass destruction.

Charlie Trumbull argued that, while the Trump administration’s boat strikes cannot be classified as war crimes because there is no war with Venezuela, they can and do constitute crimes against humanity. Trumbull explained the “crimes against humanity” classification’s implications for international prosecution and drew parallels between strikes on drug dealers in the Caribbean and the anti-drug extrajudicial murders ordered by the former president of the Philippines. 

On Lawfare Daily, Katsiaryna Shmatsina sat down with Catarina Buchatskiy to discuss Ukraine’s maritime operations in the Black Sea, the use of unmanned surface vehicles, the supply chains that support Ukraine’s wartime manufacturing, and more.

Anastasiia Lapatina examined the tenure and downfall of Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s former chief of staff who was fired three weeks ago amidst an anti-corruption investigation.

Mark MacCarthy and Kenneth Propp explained the proposed changes to European digital regulations in a new omnibus package, which policymakers hope will strengthen Europe’s tech industry. MacCarthy and Propp cautioned that the U.S.’s deregulatory approach is not necessarily something that Europe should emulate and urged European lawmakers to implement more active industrial policy measures.

In the latest installment of Lawfare’s Foreign Policy Essay series, Michael Jacobson and Matthew Levitt argued that multiple European countries have not done enough to prevent “sham charities” within their borders from funding Hamas and called for action from the European Union.

And Ashleigh Subramanian-Montgomery examined how legal dependence on a banking waiver from the Israeli government has created a “cash vacuum” in Gaza, limiting aid efforts as well as depressing the broader Palestinian economy. 

And that was the week that was.