terrorism

Lawfare – Federal Prosecution is a Viable Option for Enemy Combatants – 24 July 2017

https://www.lawfareblog.com/federal-prosecution-viable-option-enemy-combatants By Mary B. McCord Monday, July 24, 2017, 2:19 PM “It is true, of course, that the United States will not have an Article III option in every case in which it has the opportunity to take custody of an enemy combatant. Law enforcement officials may lack the quantum…


CERL – Journalistic Ethics and the National Security State: Transparency and the Rule of Law in Democratic Societies – 9-11 November 2017

https://www.law.upenn.edu/newsevents/calendar.php#!event_id/54742/view/event Democratic governance depends on an engaged and educated public, to which transparency and access to accurate information are essential. At the same time, effective national security has always relied on secrecy and the ability control sensitive information. Journalists and the public at large all understand that there is a…


Lawfare – Terrorists, Insurgents, Something Else? Clarifying and Classifying the “Generational Challenge” – 15 January 2017

https://www.lawfareblog.com/terrorists-insurgents-something-else-clarifying-and-classifying-generational-challenge “Our hope is that our taxonomy of VNSAs (Violent Non State Actors) can help analysts and scholars to better conceptualize the range of VNSA types and the relationships among them. They are too often lumped together as “terrorist” groups, but as this spectrum makes clear, doing so oversimplifies the…


Conference – Using Law to Fight Terror October 27-29, 2016

Using Law to Fight Terror October 27-29, 2016 Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL) University of Pennsylvania Law School https://www.law.upenn.edu/institutes/cerl/conferences/usinglawtofightterror/ Recent challenges in international security posed by two terrorist organizations, Al Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), have highlighted an urgent domestic and…



CNN – Newly released US drone policy explains how targets can be chosen – 7 August 2016

“The Obama administration has released a previously [top] secret 18-page policy guidance document that lays out how potential drone targets may be chosen and approved and the President’s role in the decision-making process.” Read the full story: http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/06/politics/obama-administration-drone-policy/ For the actual, declassified document, see: https://www.justice.gov/oip/foia-library/procedures_for_approving_direct_action_against_terrorist_targets/download For a related policy, see:…


MWI – Japan’s July 10 upper-house election: implications on US national security – 19 July 2016

http://mwi.usma.edu/japans-july-10-upper-house-election-implications-us-national-security/ Nori Katagiri writes that “the July 10 upper-house election in Japan will have important implications for the US-Japan alliance and the stability of East Asia, but the effect should not be exaggerated.” For more on US-Japan relations: https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33740.pdf


The Report of the Iraq Inquiry (Chilcot Report) – 6 July 2016.

http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk and see: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/07/world/europe/chilcot-report.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share and see: Govern, Kevin H., Rethinking Rule of Law Efforts in Iraq (2007). JURIST Forum (http://jurist.law.pitt.edu), February 26, 2007. Available at SSRN: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2093497  


Select Committee on Benghazi Releases Proposed Report – 27 June 2016

http://benghazi.house.gov/NewInfo And see http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/27/politics/benghazi-report-hillary-clinton/index.html?sr=fbCNN062716benghazi-report-hillary-clinton0516PMStoryLink&linkId=25961333 “Democrats on Monday (27 June 2016)pre-empted the upcoming release of a Republican-led House Select Committee report on Benghazi by issuing their own version of a probe into the 2012 terror attack that killed four Americans on Hillary Clinton’s watch as secretary of state.” http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2016/images/06/27/report_of_the_benghazi_select_committee_democratic_members-honoring_cour….pdf And see…


Upcoming Event – The Ethics of Negotiation in Armed Conflict – April 14-16, 2016

Home Schedule Participants Background Readings CERL Home The Ethics of Negotiation in Armed Conflict When states conduct negotiations in the shadow of armed conflict, the exercise of diplomacy raises certain unique challenges. Conducting relations with “rogue states,” namely sovereign states who disregard human rights or other international norms, for example,…