In association with the International Commission of Jurists

National Security Law

17 Apr

The US Supreme Court released its long-awaited Kiobel decision this morning, affirming the Second Circuit's dismissal of the plaintiffs Alien Tort Statute claims.  Chief Justice Roberts wrote the opinion, joined by Justices Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and Kennedy.  Justice Kennedy wrote a separate concurrence; Justice Alito did likewise, joined by Justice Thomas. Justice Breyer concurred in the judgment, joined by Justices...

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15 Apr

Apparently, the answer is yes, according to Professor Jeremi Suri of the University of Texas writing in the New York Times: The Korean crisis has now become a strategic threat to America’s core national interests. The best option is to destroy the North Korean missile on the ground before it is launched. The United States should use a precise airstrike to...

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13 Apr

Last November, two documents appeared within a few days of each other, each addressing the emerging legal and policy issues of autonomous weapon systems - and taking strongly incompatible approaches.  One was from Human Rights Watch, whose report, Losing Our Humanity: The Case Against Killer Robots, made a sweeping, provocative call for an international treaty ban on the use, production,...

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03 Apr

Since I was unable to attend their book launch at Georgetown yesterday, the least I can do is put in a hearty plug for a new casebook written by a number of superb IHL scholars: Geoff Corn, Victor Hansen, Chris Jenks, Richard Jackson, Eric Jensen, and James Schoettler. It's entitled The Law of Armed Conflict: An Operational Approach, and it...

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25 Mar

It's always exciting when the media pays attention to expert reports on international law. Unfortunately, the media all too often gets international law wrong -- and recent reporting on the Tallinn Manual on International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare is no exception. There has been a spate of articles in the past couple of days that breathlessly claim the Tallinn Manual...

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22 Mar

Ben Emmerson, counsel for al-Senussi, has asked the Pre-Trial Chamber to refer Libya to the Security Council for ignoring its February 6 decision ordering Libya to transfer al-Senussi to the Court. Here are the key paragraphs: 3. It has been almost six weeks since the Chamber‟s Order of 6 February, and Libya has failed to comply with every one of these...

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17 Mar

Wells Bennett calls my attention to this statement by Marc Ambinder in a recent article in The Week entitled "Five Truths About the Drone War": The CIA does not "fly" drones. It "owns" drones, but the Air Force flies them. The Air Force coordinates (and deconflicts) their use through the CIA's Office of Military Affairs, which is run by an Air Force...

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10 Mar

I'm grateful to Ken, Wells Bennett, and Marcy Wheeler for speculating that my April 2010 blog post on 18 USC 1119, the foreign-murder statute, is the post referred to in today's New York Times article on the behind-the-scenes machinations that culminated in the CIA using a drone to kill Anwar al-Awlaki. I imagine they are correct; the post fits the timeline...

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07 Mar

As everyone likely knows by now, Rand Paul has ended his remarkable talking filibuster because Attorney General Holder officially responded "no" to the question "Does the President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil?" Is it just me, or does Holder's answer actually raise more questions than it answers? (1)...

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