Polish/NATO troops in a tank. (Official photo by SHAPE NATO; https://www.flickr.com/photos/shapenato/19309784789) The recent fall of a missile in Polish territory, killed two people and caused initial discussions about whether the incident was the result of a Russian attack on Ukraine…
Category: Lawfare
Disrupting Violent Extremists’ ‘Free Spaces,’ Online and Off
Members of the New Mexico Civil Guard's "Curry Company" pose for a photo that was posted to Facebook. Photo credit: Facebook via Eastern New Mexico News. Editor’s Note: Domestic extremism today involves the mixing of many elements, making counterterrorism far…
What If the Przewodów Tragedy Had Been Caused by a Russian Missile?
Andrzej Duda, President of Poland (https://www.flickr.com/photos/nato/26764349093) The missile that landed in the Polish town of Przewodów yesterday and killed two civilians turns out not to have been a Russian attack. This morning, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed that the…
Democracy After the Midterms
Voters in Des Moines during the 2022 midterm elections. (Phil Roeder, https://bit.ly/3UFYnHP; CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) On Nov. 15, Donald Trump announced his third campaign for president of the United States. Over the course of a listless, rambling speech, he…
What if the Przewodów Tragedy Had Been Caused by a Russian Missile?
Andrzej Duda, President of Poland (https://www.flickr.com/photos/nato/26764349093) The missile that landed in the Polish town of Przewodów yesterday and killed two civilians turns out not to have been a Russian attack. This morning, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed that the…
Cyber Norms in the Context of Armed Conflict
A man with his face obscured sits in front of a computer with code behind him (Photo by B_A, bit.ly/3hKfKJ8; CC0 1.0, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) In “‘Patriotic Hacking’ Is No Exception,” Jay Healey and Olivia Grinberg discussed Ukrainian government officials’ public outreach…
How the 2002 Iraq AUMF Got to Be So Dangerous, Part 1: History and Practice
U.S. Army paratroopers prepare to board planes as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom (Tech. Sgt. Stephen Faulisi, U.S. Air Force, bit.ly/3O6moFI; United States Government Work, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) This is the first in a two-part series on the history and interpretation of…
Can China Escape the Innovation Trap?
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives at COP21 (Photo by COP PARIS, bit.ly/3O9MDLh; CC0 1.0, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) For most foreign observers, the biggest takeaway from China’s recently completed 20th Party Congress is likely that Chinese Preside […]Content was cut in order to…
The Scientific Case for Climate Liability and Loss and Damage Claims
Smokestacks. (Thawt Hawthje, https://bit.ly/3EgtJPw; CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) Who is responsible for the damage caused by global warming? This question and its implications for redress are at the center of international climate negotiations at the 27th Conference of the Parties
Gul v. Biden: Habeas Corpus and the Associated Force Doctrine in Guantanamo Bay Litigation
A Puerto Rico Army National Guard member in a watchtower at the Guantanamo detention facility (Photo by U.S. Air Force Senior Airmon Gino Reyes, http://bit.ly/3fSGztW; United States Government Work, https://www.usa.gov/government-works) On June 24, the U.S. government transferred Asadullah Haroon Gul…
If You Can’t Beat ’Em, Join ’Em
A U.S. Navy officer sitting in front of computer monitors (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class John Bellino, https://bit.ly/3DEKpPi, CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) A review of David Sloss, “Tyrants on Twitter: Protecting Democracies From Information Warfare” (Stanford…
Even Newt Gingrich Has to Testify in Fulton County
Newt Gingrich by Gage Skidmore (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Newt_Gingrich_by_Gage_Skidmore_9.jpg) It is a chilly Wednesday morning, the day after the midterm elections that will shape the next two years of American politics, and I am waiting for an elevator at a courthouse in Fairfax,…
I Have Not ‘Called for Chinese-Style Censorship of the Internet’
Person holding a phone showing Twitter homepage by Solen Feyissa (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=twitter&title=Special:MediaSearch&go=Go&type=image) I spend a lot of time and effort at my law school promoting the free exchange of ideas and ensuring that unpopular speakers have a platform. I do not…
The Securing Open Source Software Act Is Good, but Whatever Happened to Legal Liability?
(Photo by Blogtrepreneur, https://bit.ly/3WNgmNY; CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) In December 2021, Log4Shell, a vulnerability in Apache’s open source library Log4j, set the internet on fire. Open source libraries like Log4j are freely and publicly available for anyone to use, modify,…
I Have Not “Called For Chinese-Style Censorship of the Internet”
Person holding a phone showing Twitter homepage by Solen Feyissa (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=twitter&title=Special:MediaSearch&go=Go&type=image) I spend a lot of time and effort at my law school promoting the free exchange of ideas and ensuring that unpopular speakers have a platform. I do not…
The Conservative Bias Panic Comes for Gmail’s Spam Detection
Google Headquarters in Palo Alto, California. (Roman Boed, https://pxhere.com/en/photo/443132; CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) Over the past decade, concern over Big Tech bias against conservative speech and speakers has dominated the narrative from the right. From repeated calls to repeal Section…
An Update on Homeland Security Intelligence Reporting on Me
Homeland Security Vehicles (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Homeland_Security_Vehicles_-_Minneapolis_(32688224852).jpg) When I last checked in on the saga of the Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence reporting about me, I had a bit of a cliff-hanger on my hands. “Is the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) still…
If You Can’t Beat ’Em, Join ’Em
A U.S. Navy officer sitting in front of computer monitors (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class John Bellino, https://bit.ly/3DEKpPi, CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) A review of David Sloss, “Tyrants on Twitter: Protecting Democracies from Information Warfare” (Stanford…
Supreme Court Grants Certiorari in Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh: An Overview
The Supreme Court of the United States. (Mark Fischer, https://www.flickr.com/photos/fischerfotos/7432022562; CC BY-SA 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/) On Oct. 3, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in two related cases exploring the interaction between anti-terrorism laws and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Twitter v.…
The Justice Department’s Agreement With a Data Broker That Facilitated Elder Fraud
An older individual using a keyboard. (CC0 1.0,https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) Data brokers create clusters of personal information to produce models that categorize people or attempt to predict how they behave. This data gathering and processing gives data brokers or their customers the…
Quantifying Cyber Conflict: Introducing the European Repository on Cyber Incidents
Hand silhouette in front of binary code (Kai Stachowiak, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cyber.jpg; CC0 1.0, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) Is cyberwar getting better or worse? Are cyber operations increasing or decreasing? This basic fact of cyber conflict (the total number of operations) is often hard to…
Great Power Competition and Internal Politics in Asia, Then and Now
An illustration from a 1951 U.S. propaganda poster depicting the "red hand of Communism" reaching toward "the peoples of Southeast Asia." Photo credit: U.S. National Archives/Public Domain. Editor’s Note: As the U.S.-China rivalry increases, worries abound that a new Cold…
Cyber Insurance and Cybersecurity Policy: An Interconnected History
(Jay Deep, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cybersecurity.png; CC0 1.0, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) A review of Josephine Wolff, “Cyberinsurance Policy: Rethinking Risk in an Age of Ransomware, Computer Fraud, Data Breaches, and Cyberattacks” (MIT Press, 2022). *** Cyber risks—that is, loss associated with the use of electronic…
A Tale of Two Strategies: Comparing the Biden and Trump National Security Strategies
Secretary Blinken and National Security Advisor Sullivan Deliver Statements to the Press (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Secretary_Blinken_and_National_Security_Advisor_Sullivan_Deliver_Statements_to_the_Press_(51052764548).jpg) It’s a busy time for the national security business. Last week, the Justice Department publicly announced charges against 20 nationals from the People’s Republic of China (PRC),…
Canada’s New Sanctions Against Iran: To List or Not to List
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressing MEPs in the EU in March. (European Parliament, https://www.flickr.com/photos/european_parliament/51957046812/, CC-BY-2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en), The government of Canada announced on Oct. 7 that it will impose new sanctions on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) under the…
Water Wars: U.S. Unveils First Pacific Islands Partnership Strategy
An annual bilateral exercise involving the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the U.S. military. Source: U.S. Marine Corps photo. Biden Administration Releases Long-Awaited National Security Strategy On Oct. 12, the Biden administration announced its first National Security Strategy (NSS).…
A Lurking Threat: State Emergency Powers in Elections
Governor Ron DeSantis in 2021 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/51326400547) When American Airlines Flight 11 struck the World Trade Center’s North Tower on September 11, 2001, windows shattered at neighboring 1 World Financial Center, where voters stood in poll lines. It was New York…
A Central Role for Climate Change in the New U.S. National Security Strategy
A DC10 Air Tanker flying over the Woolsey Fire in California (USDA Photo by Peter Buschmann, https://bit.ly/3TTDWXG; CC0 1.0, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) Since taking office, President Biden and his national security team have frequently termed climate change an “existential threat” to the…
The Facial Recognition Act: A Promising Path to Put Guardrails on a Dangerously Unregulated Surveillance Technology
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer assists a passenger at a Biometric Facial Recognition station prior to boarding a flight at Houston International Airport in 2018. (Official photo by U.S. Customs and Border Protection) On Sept. 28, Rep. Ted Lieu…
Taking the Pelosi Attack Seriously
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speaking with attendees at the 2019 California Democratic Party State Convention at the George R. Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nancy_Pelosi_(47998984512)) Of all the recordings of the violence on Jan. 6, some…
Incentivizing High-Performing Cybersecurity Programs in the Banking Sector
Image by by Lorenzo Cafaro from Pixabay The U.S. banking environment has been beset by increasingly disruptive cyberattacks targeting financial institutions and their supply chains. These attacks underscore the importance of incentivizing high-performing cybersecurity programs across the banking […]Content was…
What the United Nations Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights (Don’t) Say About Content Moderation
The Alliance of Civilizations Room, the meeting place of the U.N. Human Rights Council (Ludovic Courtès, https://bit.ly/3gUK17B; CC BY-SA 3.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) In 2020, one of the Facebook Oversight Board’s first cases dealt with Facebook’s decision to delete a post alleging…
Democratic Governments Are Failing to Leverage Technology Companies
A digitally created "wall" of popular social media application icons during the 21st century. (Source: Geralt, https://bit.ly/3Nl967J; CC 1.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0/) The response was swift and broad. Within the first hours and days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and before many…
What the United Nations Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights (Don’t) Say about Content Moderation
The Alliance of Civilizations room, the meeting place of the UN Human Rights Council (Ludovic Courtès, https://bit.ly/3gUK17B; CC BY-SA 3.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) In 2020, one of the Facebook Oversight Board’s first cases dealt with Facebook’s decision to delete a post alleging…
How Should the U.S. Military Share Secrets?
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III meets with Yasukazu Hamada, minister of defense for Japan, at the Pentagon on Sept. 14, 2022. Photo credit: DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando via DVIDS/Public Domain. Editor’s Note: Access to U.S. intelligence is…
Mark Meadows Can’t Ignore a Fulton County Subpoena Either
Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mark_Meadows_(48513732242).jpg) One of the interesting features of being Lawfare’s correspondent assigned to the very local Fulton County special purpose grand jury, requested by a local prosecutor under state law, is how local…
The Case for Researching Solar Geoengineering
(U.S. Air Force Photo by Dennis Sloan, https://bit.ly/3DGggjF, U.S. Government Work https://www.usa.gov/government-work) This year, much like 2021 before it, has been a record-shattering year of compounding climate disasters: an unprecedented heat wave in South Asia; the second-most-damaging hurricane in the…
Where’s the Venue: The Risks of Charging the Mar-a-Lago Case in D.C.
Former President Trump at the Department of Homeland Security, 2017. (Official DHS Photo by Jetta Disco, United States Government Work, https://bit.ly/3SA6YKh) Last week, CNN reported that the Justice Department put advisers to former President Donald Trump (FPOTUS) before a grand…
An Assessment of the Second U.S. Government Domestic Terrorism Assessment
FBI Police vehicles at Hoover Building (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FBI_Police_vehicles_at_Hoover_Building.jpg) By their very nature, congressionally mandated reports can be dull check-the-box exercises. By the time the reports come out, the members of Congress (or, more likely, their staff) who requested them have usually…
The Chatter Podcast: Life as a Canadian Spy with Andrew Kirsch
Andrew Kirsch didn’t grow up watching James Bond movies and dreaming of becoming a spy. Like many Canadians, he was barely aware his country had an intelligence service. But when terrorists attacked not far from his office in London, where…
The ICC’s Impact in Ukraine
ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan. (Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, https://www.flickr.com/photos/ministeriebz/51997205354/sizes/l/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/) It has been nearly eight months since the International Criminal Court (ICC) launched its formal investigation in Ukraine. The intervening period has featured a steady…
Intern with Lawfare!
The Lawfare Institute—publisher of information and insight at the intersection of national security, law, and policy—is now accepting Spring 2023 internship applications. The selected candidate will have the option of working remotely or in a hybrid model based in Washington,…
Value Pluralism and Human Rights in Content Moderation
Social media icons on an iPhone. (Mike MacKenzie, https://flic.kr/p/WVdYrA; CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) On Oct. 4, the Council of the European Union (EU) approved the new Digital Services Act (DSA). The EU’s new law regulates
Military Foraging: Historical Practice and Contemporary Advice
A U.S. Navy Commander and British Army Officer foraging during survival training in 2018.(Department of Defense photo by Cpl. Dallas Johnson, https://bit.ly/3DxBMaw) In January, U.S. Marines reported slaughtering pigs and foraging for other organic supplies as part of training operations.…
Mark Meadows Can’t Ignore a Fulton County Subpoena Either
Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mark_Meadows_(48513732242).jpg) One of the interesting features of being Lawfare’s correspondent assigned to the very local Fulton County special purpose grand jury, requested by a local prosecutor under state law, is how local…
Where’s the Venue: The Risks of Charging the Mar-a-Lago Case in D.C.
Former President Trump at the Department of Homeland Security, 2017. (Official DHS Photo by Jetta Disco, United States Government Work, https://bit.ly/3SA6YKh) Last week, CNN reported that the Justice Department put advisers to former President Donald Trump (“FPOTUS”) before a grand…
Commitment to Balance Is Vitally Important for Successful Implementation of CHMR-AP
Aerial view of the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense (The Pentagon) located between the Potomac River and Arlington National Cemetery. (Navy photo by Chief Photographer's Mate Johnny Bivera.) Publication of the Department of Defense Civilian Harm Mitigation…
Thinking Through the Jan. 6 Committee’s Trump Subpoena
The January 6th Committee (https://www.facebook.com/January6thCmte/photos) On Oct. 21, the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol made good on its promise to subpoena former President Donald Trump. Committee Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice…
The Case for Designating the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Militias as Foreign Terrorist Organizations
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Bucha in April. (Rawpixel, https://www.rawpixel.com/image/6918377/photo-image-public-domain-people, CC0 1.0, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) On Sept. 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin moved to officially annex the Ukrainian territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson following a sham referendum process in each…
Let’s Not Kid Ourselves: Afghanistan’s Taliban Regime Will Not Become More Inclusive
Kabul International Airport. (Jim Kelly, https://www.flickr.com/photos/pthread/4072190717/, CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) Ever since the August 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, there has been widespread, almost universal, rhetoric in international diplomatic circles—ranging from the United Nations to the European Union and the…
Military Foraging: Historical Practice and Contemporary Advice
A U.S. Navy Commander and British Army Officer foraging during survival training in 2018.(Department of Defense photo by Cpl. Dallas Johnson, https://bit.ly/3DxBMaw) In January, U.S. Marines reported slaughtering pigs and foraging for other organic supplies as part of training operations.…
Commitment to Balance Is Vitally Important for Successful Implementation of CHMR-AP
Aerial view of the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense (The Pentagon) located between the Potomac River and Arlington National Cemetery. (Navy photo by Chief Photographer's Mate Johnny Bivera.) Publication of the Department of Defense Civilian Harm Mitigation…
Thinking Through the Jan. 6 Committee’s Trump Subpoena
The January 6th Committee (https://www.facebook.com/January6thCmte/photos) On Oct. 21, the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol made good on its promise to subpoena former President Donald Trump. Committee Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice…
The Case for Designating the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Militias as Foreign Terrorist Organizations
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Bucha in April. (Rawpixel, https://www.rawpixel.com/image/6918377/photo-image-public-domain-people, CC0 1.0, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) On Sept. 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin moved to officially annex the Ukrainian territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson following a sham referenda process in each…
Let’s Not Kid Ourselves: Afghanistan’s Taliban Regime Will Not Become More Inclusive
Kabul International Airport. (Jim Kelly, https://www.flickr.com/photos/pthread/4072190717/, CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) Ever since the August 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, there has been widespread, almost universal, rhetoric in international diplomatic circles—ranging from the United Nations to the European Union and the…
Win, Lose, or Draw, the Wagner Group Benefits From the War in Ukraine
Wagner Group fighters pose in front of a building in Popasna, Ukraine, in August 2022. Photo credit: Sergei Sreda/Telegram via Caravanserai. Editor’s Note: Russia has long used private military companies like the Wagner Group to fight its wars, and Wagner…
The ‘Three Rs’ of President Biden’s Trans-Atlantic Privacy Outreach
President Joe Biden signs an Executive Order (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:P20220221ES-0298-1_(51974425940).jpg) Can President Biden finally resolve America’s privacy conflict with Europe? Only time will tell, but he’s made a good-faith offer that European leaders would be wise to accept. Ever since the 9/11…
The Three “Rs” of President Biden’s Trans-Atlantic Privacy Outreach
President Joe Biden signs an Executive Order (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:P20220221ES-0298-1_(51974425940).jpg) Can President Biden finally resolve America’s privacy conflict with Europe? Only time will tell, but he’s made a good-faith offer that European leaders would be wise to accept. Ever since the 9/11…
The Evolution of Critical Infrastructure Targeting by Violent Extremists
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas participated in a roundtable discussion on domestic violent extremism. (DHS Photo by Benjamin Applebaum, https://www.flickr.com/photos/dhsgov/52134519145, U.S. Government Work https://www.usa.gov/government) As the United States grapples with a fractured violent extremist landscape and the rapidly approaching midterms…
The Emerging Cyber Threat to the American Rail Industry
A track geometry vehicle owned by the Federal Railroad Administration (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DOTX-218.jpg) ( In 2008, Congress passed the Rail Safety Improvement Act (RSIA), which required the installation of Positive Train Control (PTC) systems—autonomous operation of a train to correct for human…
What Impact, if Any, Does Killnet Have?
A plane on the tarmac of LaGuardia Airport, one of the targets of the recent Killnet DDoS attack. (Corey Seeman, https://www.flickr.com/photos/cseeman/22288200214/in/photostream/, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/) On Oct. 4, a cryptic message first appeared in the Telegram forum We Are Killnet, hosted by the…
The Fallout From the First Trial of a Corporate Executive for ‘Covering Up’ a Data Breach
A person using the Uber app. (www.quotecatalog.com, https://flic.kr/p/25dr66s; CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) Uber’s former chief security officer (CSO), Joe Sullivan, was found guilty on Oct. 5 of obstruction of justice (18 U.S.C. § 1505) and misprision of a felony (18…
How Trump’s Two Failed Impeachments Upended Checks and Balances
President Donald J. Trump shows a newspaper headline during his address Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020 in the East Room of the White House, in response to being acquitted in the U.S. Senate Impeachment Trial. (White House Archives) Editor’s note: This…
Extremist Groups Abuse Tax Exemptions. Here’s What We Can Do About It.
The U.S.-Mexico border in the Sonoran Desert. (Gillfoto, https://tinyurl.com/2pwzffu9; CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en) On a hand-painted helipad deep in the Sonoran Desert, a small consumer drone whirs to life. This aircraft is part of a citizen-run program to identify and…
The Evolution of Critical Infrastructure Targeting by Violent Extremists
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas participated in a roundtable discussion on domestic violent extremism. (DHS Photo by Benjamin Applebaum, https://www.flickr.com/photos/dhsgov/52134519145, U.S. Government Work https://www.usa.gov/government) As the United States grapples with a fractured violent extremist landscape and the rapidly approaching midterms…
The Emerging Cyber Threat to the American Rail Industry
A track geometry vehicle owned by the Federal Railroad Administration (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DOTX-218.jpg) ( In 2008, Congress passed the Rail Safety Improvement Act (RSIA), which required the installation of Positive Train Control (PTC) systems—autonomous operation of a train to correct for human…
The Fallout From the First Trial of a Corporate Executive for ‘Covering Up’ a Data Breach
A person using the Uber app. (www.quotecatalog.com, https://flic.kr/p/25dr66s; CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) Uber’s former chief security officer (CSO), Joe Sullivan, was found guilty on Oct. 5 of obstruction of justice (18 U.S.C. § 1505) and misprision of a felony (18…
How Trump’s Two Failed Impeachments Upended Checks and Balances
President Donald J. Trump shows a newspaper headline during his address Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020 in the East Room of the White House, in response to being acquitted in the U.S. Senate Impeachment Trial. (White House Archives) Editor’s note: This…
Does Customs and Border Protection Have the Legal Authority to Seize Merchandise Made With Forced Uyghur Labor?
China Shipping Line container ship at the Port of Los Angeles. (Corey Seeman, https://www.flickr.com/photos/cseeman/11102240324, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/) Does U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have the legal authority to seize imported goods that were made with forced Uyghur labor? Both CBP and…
Extremist Groups Abuse Tax Exemptions. Here’s What We Can Do About It.
The U.S.-Mexico border in the Sonoran Desert. (Gillfoto, https://tinyurl.com/2pwzffu9; CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en) On a hand-painted helipad deep in the Sonoran Desert, a small consumer drone whirs to life. This aircraft is part of a citizen-run program to identify and…
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Georgia Special Purpose Grand Juries But Were Afraid to Ask
Fulton County Superior Court (https://www.fultonclerk.org/ImageRepository/Document?documentID=1040) Listen to the author discuss this piece with our Editor in Chief on the Lawfare Podcast. Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis is closing in on Donald Trump’s 2020 election meddling: CNN reports that Willis…
Wrangling Warships: Russia’s Proposed Law on Northern Sea Route Navigation
A 2022 meeting of the Russian Parliament. (Reuters, https://bit.ly/3EEnCFr; CC by 1.0, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/) The governance of the Northern Sea Route competes with the extension of continental shelves for the title of most contentious and widely misunderstood aspect of Arctic law.…
The Fallout From the First Trial of a Corporate Executive for ‘Covering Up’ a Data Breach
A person using the Uber app. (www.quotecatalog.com, https://flic.kr/p/25dr66s; CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) Uber’s former chief security officer (CSO), Joe Sullivan, was found guilty on Oct. 5 of obstruction of justice (18 U.S.C. § 1505) and misprision of a felony (18…
How Trump’s Two Failed Impeachments Upended Checks and Balances
President Donald J. Trump shows a newspaper headline during his address Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020 in the East Room of the White House, in response to being acquitted in the U.S. Senate Impeachment Trial. (White House Archives) As the House…
Does Customs and Border Protection Have the Legal Authority to Seize Merchandise Made With Forced Uyghur Labor?
China Shipping Line container ship at the Port of Los Angeles. (Corey Seeman, https://www.flickr.com/photos/cseeman/11102240324, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/) Does U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have the legal authority to seize imported goods that were made with forced Uyghur labor? Both CBP and…
Extremist Groups Abuse Tax Exemptions. Here’s What We Can Do About It.
The U.S.-Mexico border in the Sonoran Desert. (Gillfoto, https://tinyurl.com/2pwzffu9; CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en) On a hand-painted helipad deep in the Sonoran Desert, a small consumer drone whirs to life. This aircraft is part of a citizen-run program to identify and…
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Georgia Special Purpose Grand Juries But Were Afraid to Ask
Fulton County Superior Court (https://www.fultonclerk.org/ImageRepository/Document?documentID=1040) Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis is closing in on Donald Trump’s 2020 election meddling: CNN reports that Willis could begin issuing indictments as soon as December. The news arrives just five months after a…
Wrangling Warships: Russia’s Proposed Law on Northern Sea Route Navigation
A 2022 meeting of the Russian Parliament. (Reuters, https://bit.ly/3EEnCFr; CC by 1.0, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/) The governance of the Northern Sea Route competes with the extension of continental shelves for the title of most contentious and widely misunderstood aspect of Arctic law.…
What Is a Terrorist Movement?
Members of the Islamic State undergo training in an image from a propaganda video produced by the terrorist organization. Photo credit: Islamic State media. Definitions are the bane of terrorism analysis, and most are plagued with gaps, ambiguities, and inconsistencies.…
Will the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company of Drugs Be in East Asia?
President Joe Biden at the official signing of "The CHIPS and Science Act" (Official White House Photo by Erin Scott, https://bit.ly/3RZ1LLK) On Aug. 25, President Biden signed the monumental $52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act into law. The legislation is…
What’s in Biden’s Executive Order on Signals Intelligence?
President Joe Biden signs and executive order. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/50911775278/in/photostream/) On Oct. 7, President Biden signed the Executive Order on Enhancing Safeguards for United States Signals Intelligence Activities. This order is a concrete step taken by the president to fulfill a commitment…
The View From Riotsville, U.S.A.
A scene from RIOTSVILLE, USA, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. A review of Sierra Pettengill’s documentary film, “Riotsville, U.S.A.” (2022). *** In 2013, the police department of Morven, Georgia, population 565, acquired $4 million worth of…
Trump’s Obstruction of Justice, From Mueller to Now
Former President Trump speaks with former Vice President Mike Pence in the Oval Office on Jan. 4, 2021. (Trump White House Archived) As Donald Trump battles in court to stall the process of the Justice Department’s Mar-a-Lago investigation, the press…
Clarifying Responsible Cyber Power: Developing Views in the U.K. Regarding Non-intervention and Peacetime Cyber Operations
Sir Jeremy Fleming, head of UK intelligence agency GCHQ, during a March 31, 2022 visit to Australia. (Getty Image, https://bit.ly/3yxLM0A; CC0 1.0, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) “I won’t go into detail about [U.K. offensive cyber] activities—stealth and ambiguity are key attributes of cyber…
Tornado Cash Is Not Free Speech. It’s a Golem
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (United States Government Work, https://bit.ly/3eoY5Fp) In August, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the cryptocurrency platform Tornado Cash, a virtual currency “mixer” designed to make it harder to trace cryptocurrency transactions—and…
Will the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company of Drugs Be in East Asia?
President Joe Biden at the official signing of "The CHIPS and Science Act" (Official White House Photo by Erin Scott, https://bit.ly/3RZ1LLK) On Aug. 25, President Biden signed the monumental $52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act into law. The legislation is…
What’s in Biden’s Executive Order on Signals Intelligence?
President Joe Biden signs and executive order. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/50911775278/in/photostream/) On Oct. 7, President Biden signed the Executive Order on Enhancing Safeguards for United States Signals Intelligence Activities. This order is a concrete step taken by the president to fulfill a commitment…
The View From Riotsville, U.S.A.
A scene from RIOTSVILLE, USA, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. A review of Sierra Pettengill’s documentary film, “Riotsville, U.S.A.” (2022). *** In 2013, the police department of Morven, Georgia, population 565, acquired $4 million worth of…
Trump’s Obstruction of Justice, From Mueller to Now
Former President Trump speaks with former Vice President Mike Pence in the Oval Office on Jan. 4, 2021. (Trump White House Archived) As Donald Trump battles in court to stall the process of the Justice Department’s Mar-a-Lago investigation, the press…
Clarifying Responsible Cyber Power: Developing Views in the U.K. Regarding Non-intervention and Peacetime Cyber Operations
Sir Jeremy Fleming, head of UK intelligence agency GCHQ, during a March 31, 2022 visit to Australia. (Getty Image, https://bit.ly/3yxLM0A; CC0 1.0, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) “I won’t go into detail about [U.K. offensive cyber] activities—stealth and ambiguity are key attributes of cyber…
Tornado Cash Is Not Free Speech. It’s a Golem
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (United States Government Work, https://bit.ly/3eoY5Fp) In August, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the cryptocurrency platform Tornado Cash, a virtual currency “mixer” designed to make it harder to trace cryptocurrency transactions—and…
U.S. Influence Operations: The Military’s Resurrected Digital Campaign for Hearts and Minds
(Georgia National Guard from United States, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, https://bit.ly/3McjXAi) In October 2008, the U.S. Special Operations Command published a request for proposal (RFP) seeking “rapid, on-order global dissemination of web-based influence products and tools in support of strategic…
What Can a Secretive Funding Authority Tell Us About the Pentagon’s Use of Force Interpretations?
US special forces training along side Nigerian soldiers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_military_intervention_in_Niger#/media/File:US_and_Nigerien_soldiers_trining.jpg) For nearly two decades, the Department of Defense has used 10 U.S.C. § 127e, an obscure counterterrorism funding authority, to create and command proxy forces across Africa and Asia. The full…
The View From Riotsville, U.S.A.
A scene from RIOTSVILLE, USA, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. A review of Sierra Pettengill’s documentary film, “Riotsville, U.S.A.” (2022). *** In 2013, the police department of Morven, Georgia, population 565, acquired $4 million worth of…
Trump’s Obstruction of Justice, From Mueller to Now
Former President Trump speaks with former Vice President Mike Pence in the Oval Office on Jan. 4, 2021. (Trump White House Archived) As Donald Trump battles in court to stall the process of the Justice Department’s Mar-a-Lago investigation, the press…
U.S. Influence Operations: The Military’s Resurrected Digital Campaign for Hearts and Minds
(Georgia National Guard from United States, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, https://bit.ly/3McjXAi) In October 2008, the U.S. Special Operations Command published a request for proposal (RFP) seeking “rapid, on-order global dissemination of web-based influence products and tools in support of strategic…
What Can a Secretive Funding Authority Tell Us About the Pentagon’s Use of Force Interpretations?
US special forces training along side Nigerian soldiers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_military_intervention_in_Niger#/media/File:US_and_Nigerien_soldiers_trining.jpg) For nearly two decades, the Department of Defense has used 10 U.S.C. § 127e, an obscure counterterrorism funding authority, to create and command proxy forces across Africa and Asia. The full…
Women and Children to the Front
Jessica Watkins, a member of the Oath Keepers on trial for seditions conspiracy, appears in video of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol posted to YouTube and circulated by the U.S. Department of Justice. Photo credit: U.S. Department…
Toward Greater Content Moderation Transparency Reporting
Social media platform icons on an iPhone screen. (Stacey MacNaught, https://flic.kr/p/Y69SeU; CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) Freedom of expression is enshrined in almost every constitution globally. It is explicitly reflected in the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is protected…
Cybersecurity Regulation: It’s Not ‘Performance-Based’ If Outcomes Can’t Be Measured
Code on computer monitor. (Source: Markus Spiske, https://unsplash.com/photos/Skf7HxARcoc; CC0 1.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0/) After Colonial Pipeline suffered a ransomware attack in May 2021 and took its 5,500-mile system offline for nearly a week, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued a set of…