Today’s Headlines and Commentary

Let’s begin with news of Edward Snowden, because you don’t hear enough about him. Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras of the Guardian have a two part interview with him about his motives and about his thoughts on the U.S. government’s reaction to his actions. Both were recorded before he absconded to Russia. Encryption and security software developer Jacob Appelbaum also interviewed Snowden “on the NSA's capabilities and activities” before Snowden leaked classified information. German newspaper Der Spiegel published excerpts of the discussion. Snowden has accepted Venezuela’s offer of asylum, says Julian Pecquet of the Hill. In other news, the New York Times editorial board argues that the FISC’s rulings are shrouded in secrecy, making the debate over the legality of the NSA’s surveillance programs full of “hypothesis and speculation.” James Comey, President Obama’s nominee for FBI director, told the Senate Judiciary Committee at his nomination hearing today that the FBI “operates under a wide variety of constraints” and that he would “work with legislators to improve the laws governing surveillance activities” if he became FBI director, according to the Associated Press. Michael S. Schmidt of the Times has more from his hearing. Al Jazeera obtained a copy of the leaked report of the Abottabad Commission, “formed in June 2011 to probe the circumstances around the killing of Bin Laden by US forces in a unilateral raid on the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.” The report takes the Pakistani government and military to task for “‘gross incompetence’ leading to ‘collective failures’ that allowed both Bin Laden to escape detection.” Asad Hashim has the story. The Times Washington Post, and CNN all take a look at different aspects of the report, which also provides a rich inside look at bin Laden’s time in Pakistan. Mark Mazzetti and Matthew Rosenberg of the Times inform us that President Obama is considering speeding up the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and leaving no residual force there after 2014. The possible pivot comes as President Hamid Karzai rejected peace talks with the Taliban last month and ended negotiations over a long-term security deal with the United States. As Wells and Raffaela noted yesterday, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ruled that she lacked jurisdiction to stop the force-feeding of Guantanamo detainees. Michael Doyle of McClatchy reports. The AP reports that Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected claims made by Suliman Abu Ghaith's lawyers that the government was eavesdropping on the defense's communications. Ghaith, Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, is currently on trial in New York City. Speaking of requests made by defense lawyers, Pfc. Bradley Manning's defense team filed four motions asking Army Judge Col. Denise R. Lind to acquit Manning of the most serious charges he faces. Scott Shane of the Times has the details. For more interesting law and security-related articles, follow us on Twitter, visit the Georgetown Center on National Security and the Law’s Security Law Brief, Syracuse’s Institute for National Security & Counterterrorism’s newsroll and blog, and Fordham Law’s Center on National Security’s Morning Brief and Cyber Brief. Email Raffaela Wakeman and Ritika Singh noteworthy articles to include, visit the Lawfare Events Calendar for upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings at the Lawfare Job Board.