Today's Headlines and Commentary

Dina Powell, the deputy national security advisor, will resign from the White House early next year, according to the Washington Post. The departure is said to be amicable, and Powell will continue to informally advise the president on Middle East policy. Powell initially served as an adviser to Ivanka Trump before H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser, hired her for the deputy position following Michael Flynn’s dismissal.

On Saturday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced that the remaining Islamic State group insurgents have been cleared from the country and “towns and villages have returned to the nation’s embrace” in a decisive victory for Iraq’s military, the Wall Street Journal reports. Abadi cautioned against premature celebration, calling terrorism “a perpetual enemy” as the “battle against it is ongoing.” The war between Iraq and the Islamic State lasted for more than three years. Iraq’s challenges are far from over as the government must now rebuild the ravaged country, the New York Times reports. Reconstructing Mosul—Iraq’s second-largest town, which was formally under Islamic State control—and working towards reconciliation between the country’s Sunni and Shi’ite populations are among the challenges that Abadi’s government now faces. The prime minister also urged preparation for the insurgents’ likely attempt to regain territory in the recovering country.

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced that they have joined with the Iraqi army in an effort to protect their shared border from Islamic State group insurgents, Reuters reports. SDF and Iraqi military leaders met on Sunday to discuss protecting the shared border and “finally eradicated [Islamic State] mercenaries there.” Russian President Vladimir Putin called for the withdrawal of some Russian troops in Syria during an unexpected visit to the Russian airbase near Latakia, according to the BBC. The Russian military has supported Bashar al-Assad’s government in a nearly two-year campaign. The Russian president announced last year that he was withdrawing troops, though operations nevertheless continued in Syria.

North Korea is advancing its biotechnology as U.S. and Asian intelligence officials warn that Pyongyang is working towards acquiring equipment for a dangerous bioweapons program, according to the Post. North Korean scientists are being sent overseas to acquire advanced degrees in microbiology. Reports suggest that North Korea has acquired the necessary technology for biological warfare but has not yet built any weapons.

The chief prosecutor of the Guantanamo Bay military commissions, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins, has brought new charges against an al-Qaida affiliate leader, Riduan bin Isomuddin (also known as Hambali), alleged to have organized a series of 2002 bombings in Bali, the Miami Herald reports. The prosecution also brought charges against two of Hambali’s co-conspirators. The three accused now face charges including murder, terrorism and attacking civilians. Hambali faced charges in June 2017, but the prosecution did not move ahead with them. The three related bombings in 2002, which occurred near a bar, a nightclub and a U.S. consulate, resulted in the deaths of 202 people, seven of whom were Americans. Hambali and his co-conspirators also face charges related to the bombing of a Marriott hotel in Jakarta that resulted in the deaths of 11 people.

On Friday, CNN erroneously reported that the Trump campaign had access to hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee before Wikileaks published them online, the Post reports. CNN alleged that Trump’s campaign received an email related to the yet-unpublished documents on Sept. 4, 2016, a week before the emails were distributed publicly. However, the Post corrected CNN’s story, noting that the Trump campaign did not receive an email alerting them to the hacked emails until Sept. 14—after Wikileaks had already published the DNC records. Both the president and his son, Donald Trump Jr., turned to Twitter to chastise the CNN reporters responsible for the incorrect report in what inevitably became fodder for Trump’s longstanding “fake news” attack on CNN.

ICYMI: Last Weekend on Lawfare

Robin Simcox addresses how governments should respond to children, indoctrinated by the Islamic State group, who are now returning home.

Vanessa Sauter posted the latest episode of the Lawfare Podcast featuring journalist Mikhail Zygar on independent media in Russia.

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