Today's Headlines and Commentary

After Russian President Vladimir Putin conditioned asylum for Edward Snowden on the American leaker's promise not to leak more classified information yesterday, Snowden withdrew his asylum request there. Here's Kathy Lally from the Washington Post reporting on Snowden's decision, while NPR puts the number of countries in which he sought asylum at twenty. Citing Wikileaks, NPR reports that the countries on Snowden's list include: Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Iceland, India, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Spain and Venezuela. The latter's president, who just so happens to be in Moscow attending an international oil and gas conference right now,  hinted that his country might be willing to negotiate with Russia on terms for granting asylum.  Read David Herzenhorn, Andrew Roth, and Ellen Barry writing in the New York Times. Yesterday, Snowden said the Obama administration's diplomatic efforts to dissuade allies to deny Snowden asylum and turn him over to U.S. authorities have made him a "stateless person;" Rick Gladstone and William Neuman authored this Times piece about his comments, which were posted on Wikileaks. Europeans continue to express their displeasure with the most recent Snowden leaks, which detail U.S. surveillance of European and Asian officials, as Steven Erlanger explains in the Times. The Washington Post editorial board is shifting its focus from how the U.S. can apprehend Snowden to how to prevent him from leaking any more classified information. In the same newspaper, columnist Marc Thiessen expresses his concern over what other classified information Snowden might have and be ready to leak. The Hill's Brendan Sasso writes about the impact of the Snowden leaks on the cybersecurity debate in Congress (because you know, there weren't enough obstacles to reaching consensus on that issue in the first place). If you're curious about what metadata can say about you, NPR recommends this application developed by the MIT Media Lab---you can import your Gmail data into the app and visually display your communications. Meanwhile, in the Bradley Manning trial yesterday, the prosecution presented evidence that leaders of Al Qaeda used the materials leaked by the defendant, told their members to study them closely, and wrote about them in Inspire magazine. David Dishneau and Pauline Jelinek cover the proceedings for the Post. Afghan President Hamid Karzai's hand-picked roster for his country's Independent Human Rights Commission may not meet the expectations of the U.N. agencies and donor-countries funding the commission. Rod Nordland discusses reactions to Karzai's personnel picks at the Times. President Obama and former President George W. Bush met at the site of the 1998 American Embassy bombing in Tanzania, in order to mark the passage of fifteen years since the terrorist attack there. Michael Shear writes in the Times. The U.N. peacekeeping mission has begun in Mali, the BBC tells us. Egypt's Foreign Minister has resigned in response to the spate of turbulence in that country; read the Times story here. Ben already noted GTMO hunger strikers' request for an injunction against force feedings; Reuters and the Christian Science Monitor write as well. Meanwhile, 153 doctors authored an open letter to President Obama expressing their disapproval with the JTF's force-feeding protocols. Here are the letter, which appears in the Lancet, and a CNN story about it. A new round of sanctions intended to stop gold and currency trade with Iran went into effect yesterday, as Rick Gladstone explains in the Times. These new sanctions will make it even harder for those doing business with Iran to skirt the financial system. Meanwhile, down in the Sunshine state, a new law took effect:  that requiring  law enforcement to obtain a warrant before using a drone,  except when there is a "high risk of terrorist attack" or if officials believe that someone is in imminent danger.  So says the Miami Herald. 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, Syracuse’s Institute for National Security & Counterterrorism’s newsroll and blog, and Fordham Law’s Center on National Security’s Morning Brief and Cyber Brief. Email Raffaela Wakeman and Ritika Singh noteworthy articles to include, visit the Lawfare Events Calendar for upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings at the Lawfare Job Board.