Ben bemoans the state our nation’s current debate over Guantanamo as “terrible,” observing that “the arguments about Guantanamo are nearly all wrong, disingenuous, irrelevant, or just plain dumb.”  It’s ...

On counterterrorism, the President's speech was a study in mismatches---as was apparent last night in at least two respects. First: The address began with an odd intermix of statements related, on one h...

Last week, Wells noted the release of an important, 85-page report by the National Research Council. (Yesterday, Herb Lin added his thoughts about it.) Broadly, Bulk Collection of Signals Intelligence: T...

Last week British Prime Minister David Cameron gave an extraordinary speech in which he urged the the banning of private communications, that is communications to which the government could not listen in...

As part of the run-up to the State of the Union address next week, the Administration has been releasing publicly some of its policy proposals.  One of the most notable suite of proposals involved new le...

Scientific Computing had this news yesterday, about the important DNI-ordered study from the National Research Council: WASHINGTON, DC — No software-based technique can fully replace the bulk collection ...

At a CATO surveillance event last month, Ben Wittes talked about inherent presidential powers of surveillance with this hypothetical: "What should Congress have to say about the rules when Barack Obama w...

The five detainees are Yemeni; four went to Oman, and one to Estonia, apparently.

As promised, here it is. The rather unfortunate-seeming proposal provides, in full: 114TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S.__ To extend and enhance prohibitions and limitations with respect to the transfer or re...

The  proposal, put forth today by Senator Kelly Ayotte and others, comes as no real surprise.