Today's Headlines and Commentary

We begin with news from Guantanamo Bay: Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald has the latest order from Judge Pohl in the Al Nashiri military commission case, requiring the prosecution to turn over to the defense the details of the CIA's arrest, detention, rendition and interrogation of Al Nashiri. Wells is at Ft. Meade covering the hearing today. Josh Gerstein of Politico tells us that the FBI investigation at Guantanamo Bay is not looking into Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's writings, such as his Huffington Post manifesto from January. A DOJ attorney assigned to look into the matter submitted a new legal filing yesterday saying as much. Salem bin Kanad, a prisoner at Guantanamo, did not show up for his parole hearing and did not have an attorney represent him. Meanwhile, Ben Wizner, one of Edward Snowden's lawyers, says Snowden regrets asking Russian President Vladimir Putin the cute little surveillance question that generated a harsh reaction from his opponents as well as some of his supporters last week. Noah Shachtman of the Daily Beast writes:

Wizner said he understood the revulsion: The interchange looked like cheap agitprop. “I know this is hard to believe. I know if I was just watching from afar, I’d think, ‘Wow, they forced him [Snowden] to do this,’” the ACLU attorney added. “But it’s not true. He just fucking did it.” Snowden was mortified by the reaction, said Wizner and others. Within hours, the leaker decided to write an op-ed to clarify his position. Snowden decided to run it with the Guardian because of his long-standing relationship with the paper—which ran his first leak—and because he knew it would publish the piece instantly.

Drone strikes and counterterrorism operations  in Yemen over the weekend killed dozens of militants linked to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The official statement from the Yemeni government puts the number of militants killed at 55, but accounts and estimates have varied, reports Agence France Presse. The New York Times has more. The strikes continued on Monday; three suspected militants were killed as they were traveling in a car, says the BBC. Vice President Joe Biden, in Kiev, said the United States would stand with Ukraine, and offered a $50 million economic assistance package to the country. At the same time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lashed out at the Ukrainian government and threatened Russian intervention in Eastern Ukraine. Both Russia and Ukraine are accusing each other of violating the Geneva agreement, according to the Wall Street Journal and the Times. The State Department is investigating allegations that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used toxic chemicals, likely chlorine, against rebels. The Associated Press informs us that at least 33 people have been killed and 80 more wounded in deadly suicide attacks on Monday in Iraq. The number of U.S. troops remaining in Afghanistan after this year could be under 10,000, says Reuters, given how smoothly the Afghan election went. The pivot to Asia is really happening this time; President Obama is finally taking that long-planned trip to the continent, and a new agreement with the Philippines will be announced next week. And, the Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General issued an inspection report reviewing the controls over the department's classification of national security information. Email the Roundup Team noteworthy law and security-related articles to include, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for additional commentary on these issues. Sign up to receive Lawfare in your inbox. Visit our Events Calendar to learn about upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings on our Job Board.