NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross has a great interview with P.W. Singer of Brookings (and coordinator of the Obama campaign's Defense Policy Task Force) about his new book concerning battlefield robots, Wired for War. Ken and others have written extensively about the use of battlefield robots on this blog and elsewhere, so I won't re-hash the various legal, moral,...
Yesterday Barack Obama signed an Executive Order directing an immediate review of al-Marri's status. "The Review shall expeditiously determine the disposition options with respect to al-Marri and shall pursue such disposition as is appropriate." So what should the Supreme Court do with the al-Marri case now? As I noted earlier this month, Obama essentially has the choice...
I have a new paper up on SSRN, appearing shortly in the Wayne Law Review, The Assumptions Behind the Assumptions in the War on Terror: Risk Assessment as an Example of Foundational Disagreement in Counterterrorism Policy. Here is the abstract from SSRN, with apologies from the Department of Shameless Self-Promotion: This 2007 article (based around an invited conference talk at Wayne...
Philippe Sands and Dahlia Lithwick have kindly responded to my post about CAT and the prosecution of torture suspects. Here is their response: We don't believe we are in disagreement on the approach to the obligation under CAT, under Articles 7(1) and (2). The obligation is to "submit the case to its competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution". What happens...
Although a DC resident, I couldn't persuade myself or my wife to brave the crowds or the cold to attend the inauguration yesterday, and instead watched it instead with a group of friends on hdtv. Leaving aside Chief Justice Roberts fumbling the oath (see last graph in this post for President Obama retaking the oath on January 21), some of...
One other added benefit of the upcoming Obama years (and there are likely to be few) is the end of the dishonest or at least inaccurate charges about the radical nature of the Bush Administration's views on executive powers. The most annoying one that I've heard a million times from Keith Olbermann but also from otherwise intelligent and respectable constitutional...
I admit I am not exactly looking forward to the Obama years. Still, it did warm my heart a bit to hear the new U.S. commander-in-chief endorse the continuation of the war on terrorism in his inaugural speech yesterday. That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network...
Great inauguration speech by President Obama. In terms of foreign policy here are my quick thoughts. First, the speech was striking for President Obama's appeal to soft power. "Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us,...
The Obama Administration has taken over the White House, and with it the www.whitehouse.gov website. Consistent with the earlier campaign's internet-focus, visitors will find a front-page link to a new blog, The White House Blog. Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media for the White House, already has a post up, Change has come to WhiteHouse.Gov, which introduces the new blog...
In the comments to my post below on the BBC story, Mark C has kindly provided a link to the "formal request" allegedly submitted on behalf of "millions" of Sudanese who oppose arresting Bashir. (The request also opposes arrest warrants for the rebel leaders, although perfunctorily -- protecting Bashir is its primary objective.) I hope to address the request's numerous...
ICC silliness doesn't just affect the media. States and NGOs suffer the malady, as well. Case in point: the recent, repeated calls for the ICC to prosecute Israel for war crimes allegedly committed in Gaza. First up, Bolivia: "The Andean state says it is intended to make regional allies take a unified stance against "the Israeli political and military leaders responsible...
Earlier today, the SFRC voted 16-1 in favor of Senator Hillary Clinton's nomination to be the next U.S. Secretary of State. That result is not surprising, nor was her generally well-regarded performance before the SFRC on Tuesday. Indeed, it's worth remembering on the second point that Clinton worked not only with transition officials and her own advisers to get ready,...
