Search: drones

...count of genocide by murder and one count of crimes against humanity by murder. The UN is going to release a warning about the Flame computer virus. Lawfare offers more insight about the virus, as does Foreign Policy. And with more context of viruses, generally, Homeland Security Watch urges everyone to stop calling all cyber somethings “cyber attacks.” After yesterday’s New York Times story about Obama and targeted killings pointed out by our own Deborah Pearlstein, Foreign Policy mapped where the drones are. Talks are underway in Addis Ababa to...

...warfighting missions across the African continent. OpenAI has also signed a recent deal with Anduril to combine OpenAI’s models with Anduril’s hardware and software for detecting and shooting down drones. Meta, in collaboration with military startup Scale AI, is promoting its flagship large language model, Llama, as a convenient tool for military planning and decision-making. As reported by The Intercept, ‘Defense Llama’ has already raised concerns among experts about the ‘flawed,’ ‘worthless,’ and ‘irresponsible’ answers given in an online demo using the tool for airstrike planning.  While we should be...

(Shameless self-promotion alert!) I have been meaning to mention a new essay of mine in a fine symposium issue of the Brooklyn Journal of International Law that came out a few weeks ago, ‘Accountability’ as ‘Legitimacy’: Global Governance, Global Civil Society, and the United Nations. I’ve linked to the SSRN page, but I see that all the articles from the symposium issue are up on Westlaw. I’ve put the abstract below the fold, but I suppose I should say that not all my time is spent droning about drones …...

...con format – on targeted killing and drones up at the Congressional Quarterly blog. I’ll try to find a link later; not sure if it is public or not.) (ps. Thanks to Ben for his comment on my earlier Eastern Sierra post – just wanted to say that among other day hikes, we did indeed make it to Heart Lake.) Update: Politico is now reporting that OFAC will permit the license for the underlying lawsuit, on the fundamental targeting issues, to proceed, presumably mooting this suit. (Thanks to Mark Field.)...

...disciplines were formalized; 3) literature, however, largely has remained unbounded, able to probe realms of statecraft which other disciplines have placed off–limits… (p.7) This is all the more true with the realm of science fiction which probes areas that today are becoming science fact all too quickly: the expansion of the surveillance state (Hallo, Huxley! How do you do, Mr. Orwell?), cyberwarfare (Paging the U.S. Cybercommand: William Gibson would like his future back), and the use of drones (Are we waiting for Godot or for Skynet?). But science fiction is...

...has reinstated the genocide charge. The army of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) clashed with fighters from the M23 rebel group close to Goma in what was reported to be the most serious combat in several weeks. At least 60,000 refugees from the eastern DRC have now arrived in neighboring Uganda after fleeing attacks. U.N. peacekeepers in the DRC will begin using unarmed drones on a trial basis to monitor its war-torn east. The US military reports that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay may end their hunger strike....

Syrian troops are battling rebels around Damascus, trying to halt their advance on the capital. The ICC has demanded the extradition of Libya’s Abdullah al-Senussi to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity under Gaddafi’s regime. A UN survey has found that more than $3.9 billion was paid out in bribes in Afghanistan in 2012, amounting to more than double the nation’s domestic revenue. President Obama’s nominee for the director of the CIA, John Brennan, was questioned heavily yesterday during Senate confirmation hearings about drones and torture. As...

...I said earlier about how algorithms pre-select the data that we are given. It is not so much about the action that is taken, it is about the selection of data on the basis of which it is taken. In my Lecture, I refer to the use of drones in Afghanistan, where the US DoD has admitted that they were using NSA mobile phone tracking technology to identify and track SIM-cards of high-value individuals that are viable targets for drone strikes. The problem here is that the human operative is...

...For years, military intelligence has relied on these tools – such as satellites and drones – to enhance situational awareness. However, sensing technologies are increasingly intertwined with AI-enabled data processing and analysis systems. As the military gathers more data, it becomes ever more dependent on AI to process and filter “actionable” information. Vice-versa, the greater the integration of AI into military operations, the stronger the need for high-quality, up-to-date data. While this dynamic is well-understood, what is important is the framing of new platforms and systems as purely “sensing” platforms....

...a significant role in operating the drones that have become a central tool in our efforts to combat terrorism. All of this contracting poses an enormous threat to what we might call public values. These values include the core value of human dignity as embodied in international human rights law, as well as the values embedded in international humanitarian law, such as the idea that the use of force is limited even during armed conflict. In addition, other core values include transparency, democratic participation in decision-making, and accountability (sometimes referred...

...Furthermore, the Iron Dome is an Israeli missile defense system known for its life-saving capabilities in safeguarding critical infrastructure against the threat of rockets launched into the territory of Israel. In the 2023-2024 Israel-Hamas war, this system allowed the low number of casualties notwithstanding rocket launches from Gaza, Lebanon and other areas (like Syria and even Yemen), in the face of a wide range of threats, like drones and other small, low-flying objects.   Another defense system known as “Edge 360” has been developed by Axon Vision. This AI-based system, installed...

...said their peace talks are advancing. Reuters has an exclusive on the UN report that arms flowing into Somalia are coming from Yemen and Iran. The New York Times covers a growing debate about a FISA-like court for the use of drones by the United States. China is growing uneasy with North Korea’s leadership, indicating that it may reduce aid if North Korea keeps pursuing nuclear weapons instead of economic growth. The AMICC has published a new analysis on the acquittal and release of Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui from the ICC....