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“Americans Held Hostage in Iran Win Compensation 36 Years Later” – NYT 24 DEC 15
Buried in the omnibus spending bill signed into law last week are provisions to give each of the former hostages or their estates up to $4.4 million.
HOW ROGUE TECHIES ARMED THE PREDATOR, ALMOST STOPPED 9/11, AND ACCIDENTALLY INVENTED REMOTE WAR
ARTHUR HOLLAND MICHEL WIRED MAGAZINE DATE OF PUBLICATION: 12.17.15.
12.17.15
TIME OF PUBLICATION: 7:00 AM.
7:00 AM
See also:
A book that came out a year and two months prior to this article: Richard Whittle’s interesting Predator book which had many of these details – and more:
For archival documents, see
http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB484
UAVs have been used since the 19th C to drop ordnance; one of the first recorded usages of drones was by Austrians on August 22, 1849. They launched some 200 pilotless balloons mounted with bombs against the city of Venice. And less than two decades later, balloons were flown in the U.S. Civil War in 1862, with both Confederate and Union forces using them for reconnaissance and bombing sorties. Numerous WWI, II and later weaponizations of aircraft to become what we might now term UCAVs would be for the historians among us to appreciate.
For drone / UCAV use in targeted killing, see
Targeted Killings- Law and Morality in an Asymmetrical World
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/targeted-killings-9780199646487?cc=us&lang=en&
And with respect to the targeted killing of bin Laden (with UAV mission support but ground action) in particular:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2083584
“The military’s real problem: Fewer Americans are joining” – Politico 15 DEC 15
http://www.politico.com/agenda/the-militarys-real-problem-fewer-americans-are-joining-000005
When I was a commander in Iraq, many of my men were unfit for the battlefield. My unit needed them anyway.
By John Spencer
12/15/15 06:40 AM EST
And see also:
Ready, Willing, And Unable To Serve – 75 Percent of Young Adults Cannot Join the Military Early Education across America is Needed to Ensure National Security:
http://cdn.missionreadiness.org/NATEE1109.pdf
Today in History – The General Framework Agreement for Peace, widely known as Dayton Accords, was formally signed in Paris on December 14, 1995
Today in History – December 14, 1995, The General Framework Agreement for Peace, widely known as Dayton Accords, was reached on November 21, 1995 and formally signed in Paris on December 14. The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early 1990s was the worst conflict in Europe since 1945. The indecisiveness of the United Nations and NATO over the nature of the war and lack of common vision between the European Union and the United States prolonged the bloodshed. In late 1995, however, several developments on the ground and pressure from Congress provoked the US in to finally taking a determined lead and pushing for a military intervention. That intervention would be the NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR).
See:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oODjsdLoSYo&sns=em
and see:
http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/pdf/Lessons-Learned_Balkans.pdf
and see:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/call/call_96-8_toc.htm
Human rights and security in US history – OUPBlog 9 DEC 15
http://blog.oup.com/2015/12/human-rights-and-security-in-us-history/
BY KEVIN GOVERN DECEMBER 9TH 2015
This Human Rights Day, commemorating the 10 December 1948 proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we embark on a year-long observance of the 50th anniversary of the two International Covenants on Human Rights: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 16 December 1966. Together these documents form an International Bill of Human Rights, the birthright of all human beings with respect to civil, political, cultural, economic, and social rights.
The United States has drawn world focus on rights and freedoms – freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear – often in the context of preserving and promoting human rights through strong national and homeland security efforts, and requisite defense support to civil authorities, in the wake of natural and man-made disasters threatening each of those rights and freedoms.
Defense support of civil authorities must be considered in light of an evolution, rather than revolution, involving over a century of domestic federal troop deployments and 200-plus years of legal precedent, starting with the US Constitution, Article I, Section 8 as the basis for Federal government support, including Department of Defense assistance, to State and local authorities, as well as the 10th Amendment, inasmuch as “[t]he powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it, are reserved to the States respectively.”
The Insurrection Act of 1807 was one of the first and most important US laws still in force on this subject to limit executive authority to conduct military law enforcement on US soil, and was followed some 71 years later by the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. Each of those and other civil support laws has evolved over time — consistent with the times and the popular will expressed through Congress.
Amongst the many lessons re-learned or real-world experiences validated, US interagency cooperation demonstrates that after state and local authorities had reached their capacity in dealing with previous disasters, additional federal authorities may have to assist local authorities with response to civil unrest and other challenges. Months after the disastrous effects of the October 2012 Superstorm Sandy, and weeks prior to the devastating 15 April 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, the Summer 2013 El Reno tornado in Oklahoma, and the wildfires in both Arizona and Colorado, the US Department of Defense (DOD) issued a DoD instruction and a strategy document clarifying the rules for the involvement of military forces in civilian law enforcement and DOD support to Federal, State, tribal, and local civilian law enforcement agencies, including responses to civil disturbances. This is especially important in the realm of so-called complex catastrophes that would overwhelm local and state agencies individually and require federal agency involvement with the DOD supporting an overall effort.
Thereafter, during the Spring of 2014, another series of domestic natural disasters included deadly severe storms, tornadoes and flooding; in the aftermath of destruction, National Guard members worked, “in coordinated efforts with civilian agencies … responding to communities in several states across the south.”
At least 62,000 unaccompanied children from Central America have come across the US-Mexico border from the Fall of 2013 up through the time of this writing; they were believed fleeing gang activity that could threaten to US national security. In defense support to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the unaccompanied children stopped by US Border Patrol are now being cared for by HHS’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF).
Aside from the aforementioned bases for support, Section 1208 of the 1990 National Defense Authorization Act (later titled Section 1033, which subsequently became Section 2576a), has allowed the Secretary of Defense to transfer to Federal and State agencies personal property of the DOD, including small arms and ammunition, suitable for use by such agencies in counter-drug activities and excess to DOD needs. Since its inception, the “1033 program” has transferred more than $5.1 billion worth of property. Critics of the program, such as the ACLU, claimed “a disturbing range of military gear [is] being transferred to civilian police departments nationwide.” This “1033 program,” coupled with National Guard deployment in Ferguson, MO, became the subject of critical media focus in the wake of police response to riots in August 2014 following the police shooting of crime suspect Mike Brown. Thereafter, President Obama issued the 16 January 2015 Executive Order 13688, which, along with the 18 May 2015 Law Enforcement Working Group Recommendations Pursuant to Executive Order 13688, directs executive departments and agencies to better coordinate their efforts to operate and oversee the provision of controlled equipment and funds for controlled equipment to law enforcement agencies.
The FBI has aptly observed that “[t]here’s no room for failure—when it comes to weapons of mass destruction, even a single incident could be catastrophic.” Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta warned the Nation in Fall 2012 of a potential coming “cyber Pearl Harbor; an attack that would cause physical destruction and the loss of life … [that] would paralyze and shock the nation and create a new, profound sense of vulnerability.” The policies and legal authorities governing Defense Support to Civil Authorities extend to cyber operations, as they would in any other domain. The Department of Defense works closely with its interagency partners, including the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, to address threats to the United States from wherever they originate and to protect the rights of its citizens from foreign and domestic threats.
As George C. Marshall, the great soldier-statesman remarked in his 23 September 1948 speech to the United Nations General Assembly, “in the modern world the association of free men within a free state is based upon the obligation of citizens to respect the rights of their fellow citizens. And the association of free nations in a free world is based upon the obligation of all states to respect the rights of other nations.”
Kevin Govern is an Associate Professor of Law at Ave Maria School of Law. He is a contributing author to U.S. Military Operations: Law, Policy, and Practice and co-editor of Cyberwar: Law and Ethics for Virtual Conflicts. Kevin was a US Army Judge Advocate, serving 20 years at every echelon during peacetime and war in worldwide assignments involving every legal discipline. Presently, in addition to teaching, he serves as an Executive Board Member for the University of Pennsylvania Law School Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL), a non-partisan interdisciplinary institute dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the rule of law in twenty-first century warfare and national security.
Image credit: Army Spc. Anthony Monte helps a woman displaced by Hurricane Sandy at an emergency shelter at the Werblin Recreation Center in Piscataway Township, N.J., Oct. 29, 2012. Monte is assigned to the 50th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, New Jersey Army National Guard. Department of Defense. Public domain.
– See more at: http://blog.oup.com/2015/12/human-rights-and-security-in-us-history/#sthash.BNbazJja.dpuf
Penn Law conference explores PTSD among veterans
http://www.thedp.com/article/2015/12/law-school-post-traumatic-stress-order-conference
Interfaith Dialogue Blog From Military Legitimacy Review Founder COL (R) Rudy Barnes Jr. Has Alternate URLs
http://www.jesusmeetsmuhammad.blogspot.com/?m=1
Or
http://www.jesusmeetsmuhammad.com/?m=1
Featured Presentations During Upcoming December 3-5, 2015 Conference on Preventing and Treating the Invisible Wounds of War: Combat Trauma and Psychological Injury
DEC 3
Sexual Violence and Trauma in Conflict: Rethinking the Cost of War
4:30 pm
Golkin 100, Michael A. Fitts Auditorium
https://www.law.upenn.edu/live/events/51474-sexual-violence-and-trauma-in-conflict-rethinking
DEC 4
Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law Keynote Panel: Mental Health Injury as a Cost of War
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Golkin 100, Michael A. Fitts Auditorium
https://www.law.upenn.edu/newsevents/calendar.php#event_id/51572/view/event
and see:
https://www.law.upenn.edu/institutes/cerl/conferences/legalethicalinvisiblewounds/
The Rise of ISIS /Daesh – Various Perspectives
In Rise of ISIS, No Single Missed Key but Many Strands of Blame
The New York Times
By the time the U.S. withdrew from Iraq, it thought it had subdued the Islamic State. The group is now on a very different trajectory. Read the full story at:
https://apple.news/AMlHKWN9DTFeCNDioP4hMqw
Also, for a non-exhaustive Webliography on the rise of ISIS/Daesh, see, e.g.,
https://www.ctc.usma.edu/isil-resources
http://www.cfr.org/iraq/islamic-state/p14811
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/R43612.pdf
http://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/1
https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/situating-the-emergence-of-the-islamic-state-of-khorasan
https://www.ctc.usma.edu/v2/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/CTC-The-Group-That-Calls-Itself-A-State-December20141.pdf
http://www.economist.com/search/gcs?ss=ISIS#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=ISIS&gsc.page=1
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=legal+status+Isis+daesh+&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C10&as_sdtp=
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/analysis/2014/08/28/Prosecution-of-ISIS-poses-challenge-to-intenational-justice.html
https://www.academia.edu/9951214/The_Statehood_of_ISIS_between_practice_international_law_and_religion
http://jurist.org/hotline/2014/07/bilal-khan-force-isis.php
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/view_from_chicago/2014/09/war_against_isis_in_syria_obama_s_legal_and_political_justifications.html
And for the declassified Judicial Watch-obtained 5 AUG 12 DoD Intelligence Summary on Iraq:
http://www.judicialwatch.org/document-archive/pgs-287-293-291-jw-v-dod-and-state-14-812-2/
And see PBS Frontline’s
The Rise of ISIS:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/rise-of-isis/
and
ISIS in Afghanistan:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/isis-in-afghanistan/
In Flanders Fields
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKoJvHcMLfc&sns=em
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead; short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe!
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
– John McCrae
NATO aims to send clear message with Trident Juncture
Steven Governo/AP
Marines drive their armored vehicle off the beach at Pinheiro da Cruz, Portugal, during a mock amphibious assault with Portuguese troops Oct. 20.
and see:
Upcoming Event: Preventing and Treating the Invisible Wounds of War: Combat Trauma and Psychological Injury
December 4-5, 2015
Contact Info:
cerl@law.upenn.edu
https://www.law.upenn.edu/newsevents/calendar.php#event_id/50177/view/event
Preventing and Treating the Invisible Wounds of War: Combat Trauma and Psychological Injury
Time: All Day (until December 5)
Location: Penn Law, Silverman 147
By invitation only. Details TBA later this year.
JURIST – A Sino-American Cyber Security Agreement: Crisis Composed of Danger and Opportunity?
http://jurist.org/forum/2015/09/Kevin-Govern-cyber-security.php
and see
http://militarylegitimacyreview.com/?p=1256
US, China reach deal on cyber-theft amid hacking accusations
Published time: 25 Sep, 2015 21:15
Edited time: 25 Sep, 2015 21:17
U.S. President Barack Obama (R) and first lady Michelle Obama (2ndL) wave from the White House balcony with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Madame Peng Liyuan during an official State Visit in Washington September 25, 2015 © Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
After months of US allegations that the Chinese have been launching hack attacks, US President Barack Obama says he and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, have reached a “common understanding” on cyber spying issues.
“We’ve agreed that neither the US government nor the Chinese government will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property including trade secrets or other confidential business information for commercial advantage,” Obama said Friday, adding that the agreement is “progress.”
See http://www.rt.com/usa/316539-us-china-deal-security/
And see http://opiniojuris.org/2015/09/22/book-symposium-cyber-war-introduction/
Forthcoming Soon (December 2015): U.S. Military Operations Law, Policy, and Practice
U.S. Military OperationsLaw, Policy, and Practice $150.00 |
Geoffrey S. Corn, Rachel E. VanLandingham, Shane R. Reeves… 9780199328574 |
|
U.S. Military OperationsLaw, Policy, and Practice $69.95 |
Geoffrey S. Corn, Rachel E. VanLandingham, Shane R. Reeves…
9780190456634
Paperback
01 December 2015
https://global.oup.com/academic/search?q=VanLandingham&cc=us&lang=en