Georgetown Security Law Brief

Opinion: A broken UN promise in Congo

06/30/09: The Washington Post has an opinion piece by Eve Ensler, founder of an anti-violence against women organization, arguing that the UN has failed to fulfill its mandate under SC Resolution 1820 to address sexual violence as a strategy in warfare.

Event: Direct participation in hostilities under international humanitarian law webcast

06/30/09: The International Committee of the Red Cross will host a webcast on July 2 at 9:00 addressing the issue of direct participation in hostilities in international humanitarian law, the subject of a recently released report. See the calendar for details. Registration is free but required. 

Veselinovic sentenced to seven and half years in prison

06/30/09: BalkanInsight reports that the State Court has accepted a plea bargain made by Rade Veselinovic and sentenced him to seven and a half years in prison. Veselinovic confessed to committing a crime against humanity in the territory of Hadzici Municipality in the period between May and late 1992.

US ready to beef up UN peacekeeping operations

06/30/09: The Miami Herald reports that US Ambassador Susan Rice said the United States is prepared to provide more military observers, police and civilian staff to beef up the U.N.'s far-flung peacekeeping operations.

Bush-era judges buck Obama on terror

06/30/09: Politico reports that in recent weeks, three different Bush appointees considering cases relating to war-on-terror detainees have rejected arguments from Obama’s Justice Department, which adopted virtually unchanged the positions the Bush administration had staked out. The three examples are DC District Court Judge Bates' ruling that detainees at Bagram may sue in US courts, Northern California District Court Judge White refusal to dismiss Padilla's civil suit against John Yoo, and DC District Court Judge Leon grant of al-Janko's habeas petition.

Customs and Border Protection agents interrogate journalist

06/30/09: CQ Politics reports that CBP agents routinely question individuals to determine whether a person is conducting "illicit activity abroad (and) to determine whether a person was doing legitimate activity abroad" and have no special guidelines for journalists.The article highlights one such incident with John Dinges, a reporter from NPR.

More intelligence oversight advised

06/30/09: The Washington Post reports that the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has approved legislation intended to strengthen congressional oversight of sensitive intelligence matters, including covert operations.

Bagcho, reputed Afghan drug lord held for trial in US

06/30/09: CNN reports that Haji Bagcho, a reputed drug lord described as one of the biggest heroin suppliers in eastern Afghanistan -- with suspected ties to the Taliban -- appeared in federal court in Washington Monday, where he was ordered detained pending his expected drug trial.

Group targets bar licenses for lawyers involved in 'torture memos'

06/29/09: The BLT reports that a group calling itself Velvet Revolution in May filed a dozen bar complaints against former and current government lawyers who had some role in signing off on detainee interrogation tactics that critics say amount to torture.

Melissa Roxas, Filipino-American to sue Philippine government for kidnapping and torture

06/29/09: ABS-CBN News reports that Melissa Roxas, a member of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-US chapter, said she will file an international court action against the Arroyo administration before a United States federal court seeking damages for unlawful kidnapping and assault.

Harper government barring door to US war deserters

06/29/09: The Calgary Herald reports that Jason Kenney, the Canadian immigration minister, has made clear that the Canadian government will not do for Iraqi war deserters what Pierre Trudeau did for Vietnam War draft dodgers and deserters in 1969, when his government laid out the welcome mat for both groups.

Second delay sought on detainee report

06/27/09: The Washington Post reports that Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge yesterday that the disclosure of a hotly anticipated 2004 report by the CIA inspector general on the Bush administration's interrogation program for terrorism suspects will be delayed until shortly before the July 4 holiday weekend.

Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein bluffed about WMDs fearing Iranian arsenal, secret FBI files show

06/26/09: The New York Daily News reports recently de-classified FBI reports show that Saddam Hussein feared Iran's arsenal more than a US attack, and even considered asking ex-President George W. Bush "to protect" Iraq from its neighbor. The records show Saddam happily boasted of duping the world about stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and consistently denied cooperating with Al Qaeda.

Iranian envoy claims CIA involved in "martyr" Neda's shooting

06/26/09: CNN reports that the Iranian Ambassador to Mexico, Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri claims the United States may have been behind the killing of Neda Agha-Soltan, the 26-year-old Iranian woman whose fatal videotaped shooting Saturday made her a symbol of opposition to the June 12 presidential election results. CIA spokesman George Little responded, "Any suggestion that the CIA was responsible for the death of this young woman is wrong, absurd and offensive."

Six considered threats kept licenses for aviation

06/26/09: The New York Times reports that at least six men suspected or convicted of crimes that threaten national security retained their federal aviation licenses, despite antiterrorism laws written after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that required license revocation. Among them was a Libyan sentenced to 27 years in prison by a Scottish court for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie.

Scholarship: The Captures Clause

06/24/09: Ingrid Wuerth, Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University has posted a paper in the University of Chicago Law Review (forthcoming) examining the conflicting arguments about the Constitutional Clause granting Congress the power to “make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water” and the scope of Congress’s power to initiate and prosecute war.

Trials seen as hurting terror investigations

06/24/09: The New York Times reports that the New York City Police Department’s top counterterrorism official, Richard Falkenrath, said Tuesday that the Obama administration’s decision to put some senior terrorism suspects on trial in the United States could siphon away resources from terrorism investigations.

US moves to isolate Iran with full Syria embassy

06/24/09: The London Times reports that the United States is to appoint a new ambassador to Syria after a gap of four years, the strongest sign yet of President Obama’s desire to re-engage the pariah state and draw it away from the influence of Iran. Washington withdrew its last ambassador in 2005 after the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, in which Syria was believed to have played a role.

Kosovo Ex-Prime Minister Ceku arrested on war crimes

06/24/09: The New York Times reports that Former Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku, an ex-Kosovo Liberation Army commander wanted in Serbia on charges of alleged war crimes, was arrested Tuesday in Bulgaria, according to Bulgarian police. Mr. Ceku is wanted for alleged war crimes committed during the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo, when he was a commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army, a rebel group which fought a guerilla war against Serbian forces.

Foreign officers help fight smuggling at US ports

06/23/09: The Miami Herald reports that US officials have invited officials from Argentina, Colombia and Mexico to join their anti-smuggling crackdowns. They hope that bringing foreign intelligence stateside will help break down the close-knit networks smugglers use to ferry contraband across borders.

Scholarship: International Review of the Red Cross 'Direct participation in hostilities' issue

06/23/09: The latest issue of the International Review of the Red Cross (Vol. 90, no. 872, December 2008) is out. The theme is Direct Participation in Hostilities. Contents include:

• Interview with Sergio Jaramillo Caro
• Andreas Wenger & Simon J. A. Mason, The civilianization of armed conflict: trends and implications
• Emily Camins, The past as prologue: the development of the ‘direct participation’ exception to civilian immunity
• Stéphanie Bouchié de Belle, Chained to cannons or wearing targets on their T-shirts: human shields in international humanitarian law
• Carolin Wuerzner, Mission impossible? Bringing charges for the crime of attacking civilians or civilian objects before international criminal tribunals
• Adam Roberts, The equal application of the laws of war: a principle under pressure
• Jasmine Moussa, Can jus ad bellum override jus in bello? Reaffirming the separation of the two bodies of law

HT to International Law Reporter

Khaled Hussein, who helped Achille Lauro hijackers, dies at 73

06/23/09: The New York Times reports that Khaled Hussein, a Palestinian who helped plan the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, during which an American passenger was killed, died early Monday in a jail in Benevento, near Naples.

Homeland Security said to kill spy satellite plan

06/23/09: The LA Times reports that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has decided to kill a controversial Bush administration program to use U.S. spy satellites to collect domestic intelligence for counter-terrorism, law enforcement and security.

Supreme Court rejects Wilson/Plame suit

06/23/09: Politico reports that the Supreme Court has refused to take up the lawsuit Valerie Plame Wilson and Joe Wilson brought against the Bush administration over the exposure of Mrs. Wilson's employment at the CIA. The decision upholds the DC Circuit court decision that individuals like the Wilsons could not sue government employees for alleged privacy violations because the law Congress wrote dealing with such violations, the Privacy Act, directs liability to the government.

Opinion: If Britain cuts its Trident missile replacement program, it will become a second-rate power

06/22/09:  The London Times carries an editorial arguing for Britain to preserve its submarine-based nuclear weapons.  Without its nuclear deterrent, it argues, Britain will become a second-rate power like Spain or Italy, and could lose its permanent UN Security Council seat. 

Opinion: Obama closes doors on openness

06/22/09: Newsweek takes President Obama to task for failing to live up to his pledges of open government with respect to FOIA.  Administration lawyers crafted a key directive in January, ordering federal agencies to adopt a "presumption" of disclosure for FOIA requests. But in a little-noticed passage, the memo also said the new standard applies "if practicable" for cases involving "pending litigation." This passage and other "lawyerly hedges" means the Holder memo is now "astonishingly weaker" than the Reno policy.

U.S. toughens airstrike policy in Afghanistan

06/22/09: The New York Times reports that the US will sharply restrict the use of airstrikes in Afghanistan, in an effort to reduce the civilian deaths. Airstrikes during firefights will in most cases be allowed only to prevent American and other coalition troops from being overrun. Even in the cases of active firefights with Taliban forces, airstrikes will be limited if the combat is taking place in populated areas — the circumstances in which most Afghan civilian deaths have occurred. The restrictions will be especially tight in attacking houses and compounds where insurgents are believed to have taken cover.

US and China set to resume military talks

06/22/09: The Financial Times reports that starting Tuesday, Michele Flournoy, US undersecretary of defense for policy, will visit Beijing for talks with her Chinese coutnerpart, in the first such session since December 2007. The meeting will be dominated by discussions about containing North Korea. China suspended the military sessions in protest over weapon sales to Taiwan approved by the Bush administration. The Obama administration has been eager to rebuild links, in part to find ways to prevent incidents at sea between vessels of the two navies, which have been frequent over the past few months.

Scholarship: Human Rights Law Review

06/22/09: The latest issue of the Human Rights Law Review (Vol. 9, no. 2, 2009) is out. Contents include:

• Alastair Mowbray, An Examination of the European Court of Human Rights' Approach to Overruling its Previous Case Law
• Aoife Nolan, Addressing Economic and Social Rights Violations by Non-state Actors through the Role of the State: A Comparison of Regional Approaches to the 'Obligation to Protect'
• Helen Keller & Andreas Fischer, The UN Anti-terror Sanctions Regime under Pressure
• Matthew E. Cross & Sarah Williams, Recent Developments at the ICC
• David Jenkins, Habeas Corpus and Extraterritorial Jurisdiction after Boumediene: Towards a Doctrine of 'Effective Control' in the United States

HT to International Law Reporter.

Rwandan guilty of genocide jailed for 30 years

06/22/09: CNN reports that a former Rwandan interior minister was sentenced to 30 years in jail for his role in the death of "thousands of Tutsi refugees" in country's 1994 genocide. The court found Callixte Kalimanzira  guilty of genocide and direct and public incitement to commit genocide." Kalimanzira has been in prison since 2005 and will receive credit for time served.

Probe into Afghan civilian deaths finds airstrikes 'appropriate'

06/20/09: CNN reports that a US military investigation report on the May 4 incident in Farah province  issued by US Central Command found that US use of airpower in a fight in Afghanistan was "appropriate" but it did kill civilians unintentionally.

House bill expands oversight of NSA

06/20/09: The Washington Post reports that the House intelligence committee late Thursday approved measures to strengthen oversight of the National Security Agency and the overall intelligence community, including by making the jobs of NSA director and general counsel subject to Senate confirmation.

Scholarship: United Nations collective security and the United States security guarantee in an age of rising multipolarity

06/20/09: International Law Reporter has a forthcoming article by American University Law professor Kenneth Anderson considering the respective roles of the United Nations and the United States in a world of rising multipolarity and rising new (or old) Great Powers. It asks why UN collective security as a concept persists, despite the well-known failures, both practical and theoretical, and why it remains anchored to the UN Security Council.

Pentagon pulls back release of controversial report on Afghan strike

06/19/09: The Intelligence Daily reports that the Pentagon has delayed the release of its investigation into bombing raids in early May which, the Kabul government claims, killed 140 civilians in Afghanistan's western province, reportedly because of internal debate among the officials about which information should be made public.

Newly-declassified report for 9/11 Commission focused on agency info sharing

06/18/09: A recently declassified monograph prepared for the 9/11 Commission found that the barriers to information sharing between agencies prior to 9/11 was caused more by misunderstanding and agency policies than by legal barriers. HT to be Spacific.

US to let Immigration agents make drug arrests

06/18/09: The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration is preparing to give more US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents authority to make drug arrests to assist Mexico's bloody battle with drug cartels ending a years-long dispute between the Justice and Homeland Security departments and significantly increasing the number of federal drug agents, particularly in border areas.

Opinion: an Israeli case for administrative detention

06/18/09: National Security Advisors and Opinio Juris carry a series of posts by Amos Guiora, Professor of Law at University of Utah, examining possible models for US administrative detention in the War on Terror drawing on the Israeli model.

Attorney General Holder says 50 or more Gitmo trials possible

06/18/09: The Miami Herald reports that Attorney General Eric Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday there may be 50 or more trials of Guantánamo Bay detainees as the Obama administration works to shut the detention center by early next year.

E-mail surveillance renews concerns in Congress

06/17/09: The New York Times reports that the National Security Agency is facing renewed scrutiny over the extent of its domestic surveillance program, with critics in Congress saying its recent intercepts of the private telephone calls and e-mail messages of Americans are broader than previously acknowledged.

UK urged to reform war crimes prosecution laws

06/17/09: Jurist reports that war crimes suspects entering or residing in the UK are often immune from prosecution for their acts, according to a report released Monday by Aegis Trust. The report refers to a "significant number" of alleged war criminals who often escape prosecution because such crimes cannot be tried in the UK if committed before 2001 or if the perpetrator is not a UK resident.

House approves war spending bill

06/17/09: The LA Times reports that the House of Representatives on Tuesday approved funding to escalate the war in Afghanistan and wind down U.S. involvement in Iraq. The $106-billion war funding bill, approved 226 to 202, carries a hodgepodge of provisions, including $5 billion to expand the role of the International Monetary Fund in shoring up the world economy, $1 billion to encourage U.S. consumers to trade in gas-guzzlers for more fuel-efficient new cars and $7.7 billion to combat the flu pandemic.

Doubts on handling terror detainees end at US prison gates

06/17/09: The New York Times reports that while politicians in both parties have expressed doubts that mainland prisons could safely hold those detainees, federal prison officials say they share no such qualms. US penitentiaries already hold 216 prisoners serving time for crimes related to international terrorism.

CIA fights full release of detainee report

06/17/09: The Washington Post reports that the CIA is urging the White House to suppress significant portions of a comprehensive internal account of the agency's interrogation program that describe in graphic detail how the agency handled its detainees, arguing that the material could damage ongoing counterterrorism operations by laying bare sensitive intelligence procedures and methods.

San Diego to pay $150,000 to settle lawsuit with former Blackwater firm

06/16/09: The LA Times reports that the city of San Diego will pay $150,000 to settle a lawsuit brought on by an unsuccessful attempt to block the former Blackwater USA security firm from opening a local training facility.

ACLU says terrorism finance laws hurt charities

06/16/09: The Miami Herald reports that an American Civil Liberties Union report issued Tuesday said many people who want to comply with their faith's tenet of charitable giving have stopped doing that out of worry they could be swept up in a terrorism financing investigation.

Can Leon Panetta move the CIA forward without confronting its past?

06/16/09: The New Yorker reports that the CIA has become the focus of almost daily struggle, as Obama attempts to restore the rule of law in America’s fight against terrorism without sacrificing safety or losing the support of conservative Democratic and independent voters.

Administration plans to move Ross, top Iran expert, to White House

06/16/09: The New York Times reports that with the White House assuming a more central role in dealing with Iran, the Obama administration plans to move its senior Iran policy maker, Dennis B. Ross, to the National Security Council from the State Department.

US may help train Mexican customs agents under pact

06/16/09: CNN reports that an agreement signed Monday by US and Mexican officials some day may mean travelers headed into Mexico will see Mexican customs officials -- trained and equipped with the help of the US government.

Event: Teleconference on terrorism finance laws and American Muslims

06/16/09: The ACLU is sponsoring a teleconference at 11:00 to address the findings of a new report, "Blocking Faith, Freezing Charity." The ACLU conducted 120 interviews with Muslim community leaders and donors in several states, and the result is the first comprehensive report that documents the serious effects of Bush administration terrorism finance laws on Muslim communities. Check the calendar for details.

Resource: UNODC database on counterterrorism laws

06/15/09: The United Nations Office for Drug and Crime (UNODC) has created a comprehensive database containing counter-terrorism conventions, national criminal laws and case laws relevant to terrorism. The database counter-terrorism materials broken into three sections: international legal instruments; national legislation; and additional resources. HT to the Lift.