Today's Headlines and Commentary

The Associated Press reports that Jose Pimental, the man accused of attempting to use a pipe bomb in an attack in New York City, is to be arraigned today in Manhattan. Militants attacked an Afghan government delegation on its way to the villages in which a U.S. soldier opened fire and killed at least 16 civilians on Sunday, report the Washington Post and the New York Times. Military investigators are on the case, working to identify the circumstances that led the U.S. Army sergeant to launch this attack, write Craig Whitlock and Carol D. Leonnig at the Post, as well as Corey Dade at NPR. Today's New York Times editorial is on the subject, as well. In the aftermath of the shooting spree, Leon Panetta says that it is possible to provide for the death penalty in the case building against the Army soldier. Jeremy Herb at The Hill shares the Defense Secretary's first public comments on the shooting. And many are debating whether or not this will change the timeline on the U.S. withdrawal: here, for example, are the Times, NPR, and the Politico. Senator Scott Brown argued during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week that the Afghan government is not prepared to assume the responsibility for the Bagram prison. Carlo Munoz at The Hill writes. The Blog of Legal Times covered the oral arguments yesterday in the D.C. Circuit of the appeal by Richard Convertino of the District Court's dismissal of his privacy suit against the Department of Justice. Ellen Nakashima writes about the Matt Miller/Josh Gerstein exchange over the prosecution of former NSA official Thomas Drake. Micah Zenko over at CFR pulls together four statements in the last week on the topic of targeted killing following Attorney General Eric Holder's speech--from FBI Director Robert Mueller, from Holder himself, from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and from Senator Charles Schumer. Josh Gerstein at the Politico writes a lengthy piece on the consensus on many of President Obama's national security policies that, had President Bush been the one pursuing those policies, would have resulted in a torrent of opposition. Secrecy News writes on the recent declassification of a 1976 NSA directive, as well as the failure of the NSA to confirm or deny a relationship with Google and a directive from back in 2008 that may have assigned the agency responsibilities in the realm of cybersecurity. Alexander Beltran Herrera, a man believed to be a member of FARC, was extradited to the United States over the weekend and pled not guilty yesterday to taking three American citizens hostage after a 2003 plane crash in Colombia. Frederic Frommer of the Tri City Herald reports. In a Quinnipiac University poll, 58 percent of New York City voters approve of the NYPD's dealings with Muslims in the wake of reports of police surveillance and targeting of the community. NPR's Fresh Air discussed drones in domestic airspace with John Villasenor, a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings. Also on the case is Kathryn Wolfe at the Politico. The Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch shares a press release by Advanced Defense Technologies, Inc., identifying the prospect of domestic drone surveilliance proliferation as a reason why it is developing a proprietary antenna system to help its drones sense, detect, and avoid other airborne objects. Republican Representative Walter Jones of North Carolina introduced a concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 107, last week which says:

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that, except in response to an actual or imminent attack against the territory of the United States, the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress violates Congress's exclusive power to declare war under article I, section 8, clause 11 of the Constitution and therefore constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution.

Jonathan Easley over at The Hill reports on the resolution. It has no cosponsors as of yet and has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee. 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, Fordham Law’s Center on National Security’s Morning Brief, and Fordham Law’s Cyber Brief. Email us noteworthy articles we may have missed at wakeman.lawfare@gmail.com and  singh.lawfare@gmail.com.