January 28, 2013: The United States signs a status of forces agreement with Niger “that clears the way for a stepped-up American military presence on the edges of the conflict in neighboring Mali,” and t...

Alan Backstrom and Ian Henderson have a new draft working paper at SSRN, "New Capabilities in warfare: an overview of contemporary technological developments and the associated legal and engineering issu...

Jack and Ben have already flagged their entries in a Hoover Institution Task Force on National Security and Law series on national security challenges for the second Obama term (Hoover is adding one essa...

I'm not sure what to make of this: As I've just explained, a UN Special Rapporteur has launched an investigation into the legality of US and Israeli drone strike practices.  The Special Rapporteur's sta...

[Update - I've clarified some points below, at the bottom, in response to reader feedback] Ben Emmerson QC is a British human rights law specialist who currently serves as the UN Human Rights Council's ...

Yesterday, the American Security Project (ASP) held a lunch event on drones. The discussion, between ASP's CEO Stephen Cheney, ASP Fellow Joshua Foust, Daphne Eviatar of Human Rights First, and me was a ...

Somehow, I doubt the FAA would mind these drones over D.C. airspace. Inauguration day drone protest. Hat tip: Josh Gerstein

The Post ran an important story on Saturday, building on its earlier reporting concerning the development of a "disposition matrix" and other tools for the management of the counterterrorism enterprise. ...

The American Society of International Law has released a new "ASIL Insight" on law applicable to autonomous weapon systems.  (ASIL Insights are short, descriptive pieces on topical issues meant as non-te...

CNN is reporting that TSA has announced the removal of all Rapiscan X-ray backscatter airport machines, to be accom

The Sunday NYT story on the French intervention in Mali noted that the United States had long trained Mali forces but had also long believed that “a Western assault on the Islamist stronghold could rally...

John Brennan, nominated by President Obama to become the next CIA director, will apparently face some tough questioning from Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) at his Senate confirmation hearings (reportedly set f...