Today's Headlines and Commentary

Raffaela Wakeman
Tuesday, August 30, 2011, 10:39 AM
And we're back. Ibrahim al-Rubeish, a senior member of Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, who is also a former Guantanamo detainee has recommended to UAE interior minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud to expel non-Muslims from the country, reports the AFP. Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald reports on the first days

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And we're back. Ibrahim al-Rubeish, a senior member of Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, who is also a former Guantanamo detainee has recommended to UAE interior minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud to expel non-Muslims from the country, reports the AFP. Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald reports on the first days on the job for Rear Adm. David B. Woods, the new Commander of Guantanamo. Thomas Wallner, a German filmmaker, has made a documentary about Guantanamo, from the perspective of four different people. Deutsche Welle has this review of the film. Conor Friedersdorf of the Atlantic writes about Thomas Drake's op-ed late last week regarding the Obama administration's efforts to silence its critics on national security policy. Nick Adams, Ted Nordhaus, & Michael Shellenberger of the Breakthrough Institute have a lengthy piece in the Atlantic reflecting on 9/11, its aftermath, and arguing that the War on Terror is over (despite the remaining threat of terrorist attacks). YouTube has posted a leaked video of a Chinese officer discussing espionage, an unusual secrecy breach from the Chinese military. The AP has the story, which is available on the New York Times. The YouTube video is here. David Hicks will tell his story on ABC on September 20th. The Washington Post has this story on a suspected North Korean cyber attack on a South Korean bank. Mark Mazzetti of the Times writes on the expected announcement by al Qaeda of its replacement in Libya for Atiyah abd al-Rahman, who was killed last week. Mazzetti's article also raises questions about the unity and cohesiveness of al Qaeda, which has been a topic of discussion since the death of Osama bin Laden. Slate and Intelligence Squared are hosting a debate at NYU over the question of whether it's time to end the war on terror. Read more about it at Slate here. Jalal Ghazi at New American Media writes about how journalists are targets in the war on terror (a Sudanese journalist, Sami al Hajj of Al Jazeera, was released from Guantanamo in 2008). Follow us on Twitter for interesting law and security-related articles.

Raffaela Wakeman is a Senior Director at In-Q-Tel. She started her career at the Brookings Institution, where she spent five years conducting research on national security, election reform, and Congress. During this time she was also the Associate Editor of Lawfare. From there, Raffaela practiced law at the U.S. Department of Defense for four years, advising her clients on privacy and surveillance law, cybersecurity, and foreign liaison relationships. She departed DoD in 2019 to join the Majority Staff of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where she oversaw the Intelligence Community’s science and technology portfolios, cybersecurity, and surveillance activities. She left HPSCI in May 2021 to join IQT. Raffaela received her BS and MS in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009 and her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2015, where she was recognized for her commitment to public service with the Joyce Chiang Memorial Award. While at the Department of Defense, she was the inaugural recipient of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s General Counsel Award for exhibiting the highest standards of leadership, professional conduct, and integrity.

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