President Obama publicly admitted Monday for the first time that the U.S. is conducting an aggressive drone missile campaign against terrorists predominantly located in Pakistan’s tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. U.S. officials in the past have been tight-lipped about drones, partly out of deference to Pakistani officials, who are sensitive about U.S. attacks on its sovereign territory, and partly to avoid addressing international questions about the legality of remotely controlled attacks. So why has President Obama chosen to speak openly about the drones at this juncture? U.S.-Pakistan relations remain deeply troubled, …
Bradley Manning, the Army private who allegedly leaked classified information to WikiLeaks, starts his trial process today with an Article 32 hearing at Fort Meade in Maryland. Under military law, this is essentially the equivalent of a preliminary hearing in the civilian justice system. Based on the hearing, the investigating officer will make a recommendation to the convening authority whether Manning should be sent to a general court martial for his actions that led to the worldwide disclosure of highly sensitive military reports and intelligence, as well as State Department …
The Office of Military Commissions quietly launched a new website this past Monday that was a year in the making. Located at www.mc.mil, it is an invaluable informational site loaded with court documents, historical information, Supreme Court cases dealing with military commissions, and other pertinent and helpful information. In a week when the buzz around Washington was that the case against al Nashiri (the USS Cole bomber held at Gitmo) would be referred to a military commission, the website is a long overdue and potent symbol of transparency in the …
On Thursday, you’ll hear a story at Heritage that you won’t believe is real. In 2007, writer Jack Hitt did a profile for Wired magazine on someone who sounded like the most unlikely cyber vigilante imaginable—Shannen Rossmiller. Hitt’s article describes Rossmiller pretty much the same way others do: Rossmiller grew up on a Montana wheat farm. She is blond and slim: When she was a cheerleader in high school, she typically wound up at the top of the human pyramid. Her husband runs a wireless Internet company, and they have three …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. What would the founders do about welfare? – David Weinberger Law of Sea Treaty Could Cost U.S. Trillions – Steven Groves Obama’s Soft Socialism Herarlds a Gutless New World – Brian Darling Obama’s Medicare plan is an open secret – Robert E. Moffit Man Without a Plan: Obama’s Short-Sighted View of U.S. Politics – Michael Kazin Freedom as a Bargaining Chip? – Tom Messner & Kathryn Jean Lopez Lies, Damned Lies …
Bowing to political realities, the Obama administration reversed itself and announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM), the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, would be tried at Guantanamo in a military commission, instead of in a federal court in the United States. The decision comes as the 10-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks is months away, and on the eve of a House Judiciary hearing on military commissions and the 9/11 case. The victims of 9/11 deserve justice, and it was high time for the administration to make a decision. …
On June 21, in Humanitarian Law Project v. Holder, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the painfully obvious – that providing material support to terrorists is a crime and that Congress’ saying so is not a violation of the Constitution. That it took more than 10 years to reach this conclusion, and that three Justices dissented from it, says more about the ways in which lawyers construct arguments that only lawyers can believe in than it does about the reality of the world we live in, in which terrorist activities abound. First, …
While Chinese President Hu Jintao’s decision to attend the Nuclear Security Summit is being hailed as a sign of improving Sino-US relations, President Hu’s speech at the summit suggests that rough times still lie ahead. In his speech at the summit, President Hu apparently focused on the importance of honoring national commitments towards nuclear security, strengthening bilateral and multilateral cooperation, helping developing countries improve nuclear security, consolidating existing international legal measures, and demarcating the relationship between nuclear security and nuclear energy. None of these measures, in and of themselves, are …
When Attorney General Eric Holder announced that he intended to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and five other terrorists in a civilian court in New York City rather than in a military tribunal, we here at The Heritage Foundation condemned it as “A Historically Bad Decision.” It may have taken the Obama administration four months to fully realize just how terrible Holder’s judgment was, but today’s story from The Washington Post is great news for the rule of law and national security: President Obama’s advisers are nearing a recommendation that Khalid …
Following Barack Obama’s inauguration last year, the newly-elected commander-in-chief sought to impose his vision of “change” on U.S. counter-terrorism policies. On his third day in office, the President signed an executive order directing that Guantanamo Bay prison be closed within a year. The decision was complemented by an additional order to ban enhanced interrogation techniques, effectively removing life-saving procedures from the intelligence gathering toolbox. While the President’s attempts to transform American counter-terror strategy were welcomed with open arms by his political allies in Congress, others were less enthusiastic. President Obama …
