Today's Headlines and Commentary

Lots of stuff before the weekend. Kimberly Dozier of the Associated Press reports that the CIA is following "Facebook, newspapers, TV news channels, local radio stations, Internet chat rooms--anything overseas that anyone can access and contribute to openly" in an effort to predict events and gauge public mood in a region. That's a big surprise. Spencer Ackerman at Wired magazine's Danger Room informs us that the FBI has called on West Point's Combating Terrorism Center to help reform the training that agents recieve concerning mainstream Muslims and Islam. In other news, Former Army Captain Kevin Bell argues in Army Magazine that the U.S. Army doesn't do an adequate job of teaching soldiers the ethics of war and that "field training on detainee operations do almost nothing to help soldiers untangle the twisted moral landscape of anger, intelligence gathering and justice in wartime." The thoughful piece provides examples from Bell's own experiences in Afghanistan and outlines recommendations for improving ethical understanding among infantry. There was more finger-pointing at the London Conference on Cyberspace yesterday, where the U.S. publicly blamed both China and Russia for cyberattacks, according to Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post. China called the allegations "irresponsible," reports Reuters. Tim Arango of the New York Times says that the U.S. departure from Abu Ghraib has been met with ambivalence, rather than widespread celebration. Money quote:

“I can still remember guarding the prison at night, and hearing the voices and the shouting while people were being tortured,” said [Hussam] Saad, [a roadside vegetable dealer across the street from the prison,] recalling the time when the Americans were in charge at Abu Ghraib. Even so, he claims, it is worse there now. “It would be better,” he said, “if the Americans were still in charge of the prison.”

The Department of Justice agreed to "re-examine" proposed Freedom of Information Act regulations that critics say encourage the government to "lie" in response to a FOIA request, according to Josh Gerstein at the Politico. The Wall Street Journal reports on a shift in U.S. drone policy towards more selective strikes after "military and diplomatic officials complained large strikes were damaging the fragile U.S. relationship with Pakistan." Spencer Ackerman of Danger Room casts this story in a somewhat different light. And Orla Guerin of the BBC's website provides an account of the human impact of drone strikes in Pakistan. Two opinion pieces on drones to take note of: Clive Stafford Smith argues in the Times that the collateral damage caused by drones in Pakistan is "very real and personal." And although this comes a few days late, here is former military commissions prosecutor Morris Davis arguing that the "concern over using civilian CIA personnel to conduct combat operations is not inconsequential." Alex Beam in the Boston Globe declares that flip-flopping liberals have no problem with their president's targeting of Anwar al-Aulaqi when they were outraged at John Yoo's torture memo. Message from the Taliban: We care. Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar said that "his fighters must protect Afghan civilians, who are dying in rising numbers," according to the AP. And though it is not recent, has nothing to do with national security law, and involves some, uh, salty language, this timeless Onion video is your Moment of Zen. For more interesting law and security-related articles, follow us on Twitter and visit the Georgetown Center on National Security and the Law’s Security Law Brief. Feel free to email me noteworthy articles I may have missed at singh.lawfare@gmail.com.