Search: drones

...Abu Qatada from the UK to Jordan, after a judge last year banned the deportation. The US is using a UK air-force base for drone operations, calling for more staff to assist in operating Predator drones and oversight of US missions and operations. The Washington Post has a story discussing imminence in conflict, and the New York Times has a piece about Anwar Al-Awlaki. Hungary’s Parliament is set to adopt a constitutional amendment today that will restrict judicial powers and interpretation methods. The move could lead to EU aid cuts....

Iraq is buying US-made drones in order to carry out surveillance over their oil fields. After a suicide bomber kills 90 people in Yemen, al-Qaeda vows more attacks until the US-backed campaign against militants stops. The US is apparently weighing their stance on secrecy of the drone program employed to carry out targeted killings, according to the Wall Street Journal. Former dictator of Guatemala, Efrain Rios Montt, will face a second genocide trial after a judge ordered he could be prosecuted for ordering a 1982 massacre that killed 201 people....

...the flying car fly itself. Thus, not only technological change, but regulatory changes concerning pilotless vehicles (such as Google’s self-driving car [Youtube clip] and drone tech) will make the flying cars more plausible. And, for autonomous cars (ground or flying) to have a global market, there will need to be coordinated–or at least non-contradictory–regulatory changes in many of the key markets around the world. So the regulatory environment (both in the U.S. and in other jurisdictions) of civilian drones and that of driverless-cars may incentivize or disincentivize investment in these...

...“Commission of Inquiry” by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate potential human rights abuses, calling it a “plot” against their nation filled with “faked material … invented by the hostile forces, defectors and other rabbles.” A British judge has delayed the decision on Islamic Cleric Abu Qatada’s deportation until the end of this month. The Volokh Conspiracy has a post about ICC jurisdiction over Israeli settlements. Foreign Policy weighs in on drones and reports that not only do more countries have access to them, they’re becoming smaller and smarter....

...the types of terrorism suspects who may be detained without trials as wartime prisoners. The outcome of the yearlong debate could reverberate through national security policies, ranging from the number of people the United States ultimately detains to decisions about who may be lawfully selected for killing using drones. I actually think the article overstates the differences somewhat. All the key players agree there is a war against Al Qaeda and that there is a power to detain and try Al Qaeda folks. The only question dividing them seems to...

...battlefield robots. The immediate issues stemmed from the use aerial drones, of course, but on the horizon has been the possibility of robots being deployed in ground combat (as opposed to in bomb demolition, or other areas where remotely controlled units are already deployed). I am all for lawyers anticipating issues caused by technological change. But before we get there, there are a host of legal issues concerning the transactions that will support the R&D that will develop this technology. With the potential sale of Boston Dynamics to Toyota, it...

...arguing that a civil a suit against American military contractors by victims of abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq should be allowed to proceed. And he sided against the government in requiring the CIA to disclose whether it possessed any documents concerning drones used in targeted killings.) By the time the remaining three Guantanamo detainee status cases got to Garland, another panel of the D.C. Circuit had held that the AUMF passed by Congress before the Afghanistan invasion in 2001 granted the President authority to detain individuals who...

...at speed. The reported use by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of the Gospel and its companion systems, Fire Factory, Depth of Wisdom, Alchemist, and Lavender, within the targeting cycle demonstrates a growing reliance on AI-DSS for military operations. Along with the development, testing and potential deployment of other AI-DSS for targeting, such as Project Maven, the US’ Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team, the integrated Gorgon Stare and Agile Condor systems on MQ-9 Reaper drones or other systems such as Palantir’s Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) Defense and MetaConstellation which are being...

...new Japanese PM. Eight children were among the 20 dead in a northern Syrian province after attacks. The Russian Parliament has unanimously approved a ban on Americans adopting Russian children in retaliation for a US law punishing human rights violations. The United States formally proposed a controversial sale of advanced spy drones to help South Korea bear more of its defense from any attack by the heavily armed North. Rebels in Central African Republic have advanced on the town of Kaga-Bangoro, moving them closer to the capital. The Washington Post...

Greg Miller has a fascinating front-page story in the Washington Post yesterday (Sunday; it appears to be behind a free registration wall) profiling “Roger,” the mysterious head of the Counterterrorism Center at the CIA, a key figure in the pursuit of Bin Laden, and a principal architect of the drones program. Here’s the money quote, borrowing from Lawfare: Roger, which is the first name of his cover identity, may be the most consequential but least visible national security official in Washington — the principal architect of the CIA’s drone campaign...

...national for drugs trafficking. Oceania Australian air force personnel have begun training on armed drones in the United States, Australian defense officials said on Monday, less than a week after Washington said it would begin exporting the controversial weapons system. Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced that his government will tighten immigration laws and crack down on groups that incite hatred under a raft of counterterrorism measures introduced in a bid to combat the threat from “home-grown terrorists”. UN/World United Nations war crimes investigators plan to publish names of...

The UN Security Council has lifted travel bans and asset freezes on 17 Liberians, including at least two of Charles Taylor’s ex-wives. A special assembly met in Somalia to set up a new government. Using drones for surveillance and then shooting from helicopters, Turkey has killed 15 Kurdish rebels near its border with Iraq. EJIL: Talk! has more on the Belgium v. Senegal case, asking whether the Court really ended the dispute between the parties. Regardless of the answer to that question, the AU and Senegal have reported that they...