Today's Headlines and Commentary

By now you likely know of the day's lead news story regarding the awful tragedy in Aurora, Colorado.  A gunman by the name of James Holmes, 24, reportedly killed at least twelve people and wounded up to fifty others at a movie theater during a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises. He was arrested in the parking lot behind the theater, according to the New York Times. U.S. troops were among the casualties, says CNN's Security Clearance blog. As Alan mentioned here and here, the suicide bomber that killed seven Israelis in Bulgaria was not Mehdi Ghezali, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, but instead a member of Hezbollah. As Paul wrote here and here, Senators Lieberman and Collins introduced a revised cybersecurity bill yesterday. The Hill reports. Based on a GAO report released earlier this week, ABC News reports that some foreign students are still not subject to screening at U.S. flight schools. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) introduced a bill today requiring "flight schools to check students against the terrorist watch list if they want to fly certain kinds of aircraft," according to the Hill. Amy Davidson of the New Yorker interviewed Jose Rodriguez at length about his book that made waves a little while ago, "Hard Measures: How Aggressive CIA Actions After 9/11 Saved American Lives." Former FBI Director William Webster released an unclassified report investigating Maj. Nadal Hasan, the Ft. Hood shooter, which concludes that the FBI failed to put together the pieces in the months leading up to the shooting. Almost twenty emails between Hasan and Anwar al-Awlaki have also been released. CNN's Security Clearance blog has the story here, the full text of the emails is here, and Webster's report is here. Politico informs us that the Law of the Sea treaty will not advance in the Senate, as 34 senators now have announced their opposition. Wired's Danger Room reports on how drones can be "hijacked," something the FAA should probably be worried about. Athan Theoharis, Emeritus Professor of History at Marquette University, has a new extended essay on surveillance policy and the lessons of the Cold War. Rezwan Ferdaus, a 26-year old Massachusetts man, pleaded guilty to plotting to fly explosives-laden model planes into the Pentagon and the Capitol building, says the AP. 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.