Today's Headlines and Commentary

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) executed Kenji Goto, a Japanese hostage, over the weekend. The Los Angeles Times reports on the atrocity. The Atlantic tells us more about Goto’s life and work. The BBC covers Japan’s reaction to the country’s recent tragedy. Here’s Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s short but pointed statement. A story we touched on over the weekend: in February 2008, the United States and Israel teamed up to target and kill Imad Mughniyeh, a senior Hizbollah leader. The details of the operation are surfacing five years after the fact, as five former U.S. intelligence officials have confirmed the U.S.’ involvement in the attack. (There remains no official acknowledgement.) The Washington Post and Newsweek first reported on the story. In Yemen, a U.S. drone attack killed three suspected Al Qaeda militants. Reuters explains that the recent strike shows that the U.S. has no plans of relaxing its drone program in Yemen, despite the country’s current internal governmental crisis. The Times touches on an element of Afghan life that still remains prevalent: turning to Taliban justice to resolve local conflicts. Despite the U.S.’ best efforts to the contrary, Taliban justice has remained a widespread and legitimate source of recourse for Afghan citizens. Government courts are becoming less respected, and tribal courts often lack enforcement mechanisms. And though the Taliban is not known for a gentle hand, the prevailing sentiment among Afghans is that they have a better chance at a just, equitable and efficient outcome when going through the Taliban:

President Ashraf Ghani made cleaning up the judiciary one of his first pledges in office, but it will be a daunting task. According to a poll released by Gallup in October, just 25 percent of Afghans expressed confidence in the nation’s judicial system. The Taliban have seized on this discontent. In some areas, they have set up mobile courts to reach villages outside their zones of influence. They hold hearings two days a week in the southern borderlands, requiring plaintiffs to produce evidence and witnesses. In Kunar, Taliban legal experts embed with militant commanders to provide services to locals and the fighters.

Apropos of the Taliban: The Council on Foreign Relations recently revamped and updated its guide to understanding the group. As is well known, writer Jonathan Tepperman earlier sat down with Syrian President Bashar al Assad. Tepperman’s interview in Foreign Affairs marked the first with a Western journalist since 2013 for Assad. In a separate piece for the Washington Post, Tepperman offers his impression of the dictator: "...behind the cheery aphorisms and the barely-there mustache is a man so unyielding and deeply deceptive---or delusional---that it’s impossible to imagine him ever negotiating an equitable end to Syria’s civil war.” The Times’ coverage of the Syrian civil war doesn’t leave us expecting a resolution any time soon, either. Apparently, pro-Assad factions have been using old hacker tricks---like luring someone in through chat rooms---to infiltrate the Syrian rebel software. A Bush-era administration aide is making claims that terrorist suspects were kept and interrogated by the United States on British soil. Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell, has told Vice that terror suspects were held and tortured on the British territory of Diego Garcia. The Huffington Post UK also covers the story. In response to such allegations, the British government is gearing up for an independent inquiry into the possibility that it played a key role in the U.S.’ torture regime. The Guardian explains that Prime Minister David Cameron has hinted at setting up an investigation separate from the one being conducted by the Intelligence Security Committee, which he fears is too closely linked to the government. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Ukraine this week. The Times reports that the U.S. is considering sending defensive weaponry and equipment to Kiev’s faltering forces. The Ukrainian forces have suffered a bevy of setbacks in the past few weeks, igniting a discussing among U.S. officials as to whether and how to help support push back Russian separatist rebels. The Obama administration will release its proposed budget today. Politico discusses the potential implications for defense spending, and reminds us not to forget the looming sequestration cap of $499 billion. The administration’s proposed budget will likely exceed that amount---by at least $50 billion. If the final Pentagon spending measures were to exceed $499 billion and there were no change in the sequestration cap, the Defense Department would be faced with “across-the-board” spending cuts. An interesting development in privacy news: the 2015 TRUSTe US Consumer Confidence Index indicates that 45 percent of Americans think online privacy is more important than national security. Let’s not forget that TRUSTe is a data privacy management company. Still, the survey results nevertheless help us to understand consumer attitudes and the American public’s general reluctance to relinquish privacy in favor of security.

ICYMI: This Weekend, on Lawfare

This week’s foreign policy essay, penned by Shibley Telhami and Katayoun Kishi, considered how Americans view the Middle East. They explain that, despite political and ideological differences, most Americans have similar---but not necessarily accurate---impressions of the region. Herb covered the Federal Trade Commission’s release of a recent report on the so-called “Internet of Things.” In our 108^th podcast, we cover remarks by General Michael Hayden, former Director of both the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, given at Washington and Lee School of Law’s symposium on Cyber-surveillance in the Post-Snowden Age. Jack discussed the legal implications of the Mughniyah killing. Email the Roundup Team noteworthy law and security-related articles to include, and follow us onTwitter 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.