In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Foreign Relations Law

25 Jan

I've been updating my article advocating for an e-SOS (the first draft is available here).  When I originally wrote it, Stuxnet had been identified as one of the first forms of malware to target SCADA systems explicitly (a SCADA--or “supervisory control and data acquisition”--system is one specifically designed to operate and control infrastructure, such as electrical and nuclear power systems, telecommunications, and oil...

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25 Jan

An important update from NBC News: U.S. military officials tell NBC News that investigators have been unable to make any direct connection between a jailed army private suspected with leaking secret documents and Julian Assange, founder of the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. The officials say that while investigators have determined that Manning had allegedly unlawfully downloaded tens of thousands...

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14 Jan

As the U.S. government continues to try to shut down WikiLeaks -- preferably, it seems, without having to actually charge Assange or the website with an actual crime -- it's important not to forget how much we've learned through WikiLeaks' efforts.  Here is a (partial) list created by Greg Mitchell, who has been keeping a daily log of all things...

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12 Jan

Last week I noted the remarkable spectacle of the Guardian publishing an editorial that blamed WikiLeaks for releasing a State Department cable that had, in fact, been initially released by the Guardian itself.  At the time, my evidence of that fact was circumstantial, based on the time-dates provided by the Guardian and WikiLeaks websites.  But no longer -- eight days...

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03 Jan

The Guardian published an editorial by a Republican political operative today blaming WikiLeaks for releasing a State Department cable concerning a meeting between Tsvangirai and Susan Rice in which Tsvangirai discussed the possibility of peacefully removing Mugabe from power: Now, in the wake of the WikiLeaks' release, one of the men targeted by US and EU travel and asset freezes, Mugabe's...

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21 Dec

Today at Lawfare: If DOJ tries to prosecute Assange, we will see more and more scrutiny of double standards in the treatment of traditional media leak solicitors (NYT etc.) v. Assange, and of double standards in the treatment of high-level U.S. government leakers v. Assange.  Scrutiny of the first double standard will weaken press freedoms as the...

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18 Dec

Samuel Witten is counsel at the law firm Arnold & Porter LLP. He worked at the State Department for 22 years, including six years as Deputy Legal Adviser (2001-2007) and three years as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration (2007-2010). The world’s attention has been riveted on the potential foreign policy implications of the recent...

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18 Dec

Ben describes as "puzzling" my claim that his recent post on WikiLeaks reflects American exceptionalism.  I find his puzzlement equally puzzling.  Recall the quote on which I focused: This, in turn, leads ineluctibly to Tom’s reciprocity point: If Congress can make such a demand on Assange, the U.S. would be in a bad position to object if the Congress of People’s Deputies...

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14 Dec

Courtesy of Ben Wittes at Lawfare, responding to a question about whether he believes that, if America should be permitted to prosecute a non-American like Assange for disclosing American secrets, countries like France, China, or Iran should be able to prosecute Americans for disclosing their secrets (my emphasis): This, in turn, leads ineluctibly to Tom’s reciprocity point: If Congress can make...

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14 Dec

A coalition of 26 of Australia's most prominent journalists -- essentially, the editors of every major newspaper (with the exception of the right-wing The Australian) and the news directors of all the major networks -- have written a remarkable open letter to Julia Gillard criticizing the U.S. (and Australian) government's attacks on WikiLeaks and threats to prosecute Assange.  Here is...

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