Georgetown Security Law Brief

New Predator role fits diplomatic, military bill

04/30/11: The Associated Press reports that President Barack Obama's decision to use unmanned Predator drones in Libya widened what had become very limited US participation in the air war. However, the aircraft credited with taking out terrorist leaders in western Pakistan probably won't prove decisive against Muammar Gaddafi's forces.

German police arrest three al-Qaeda suspects

04/29/11: The New York Times reports that German police arrested three suspected members of al-Qaeda on Friday, averting "a concrete and imminent danger" of a terrorist operation, according to authorities. The newspaper Bild quoted security sources as saying the three, all young Moroccans, were arrested in Duesseldorf and Bochum. It said police seized large amounts of explosives.

New CRS reports

04/29/11: Secrecy News has posted links to new reports from the Congressional Research Service. They include the following: 

“The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11,” March 29, 2011.

 “Afghanistan Casualties: Military Forces and Civilians,” April 6, 2011.

 “The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Terrorism Investigations,” April 27, 2011.

 “US Special Operations Forces (SOF): Background and Issues for Congress,” March 28, 2011.

 “Sensitive Covert Action Notifications: Oversight Options for Congress,” April 6, 2011.

 “Covert Action: Legislative Background and Possible Policy Questions,” April 6, 2011.

FBI warns US businesses of new Chinese cybercrime scheme

04/29/11: CNN reports that FBI agents have informed US businesses that millions of dollars have been fraudulently wired from business accounts in US banks to banks in a remote coastal region of China near the Russian border. The FBI says apparently legitimately licensed Chinese economic and trade companies have successfully stolen at least $11 million dollars in a series of wire transfers to Heilongjiang province.

Terrorists discover uses for Twitter

04/29/11: The Washington Times reports that al-Qaeda and Taliban jihadists are turning to Twitter to spread their propaganda in a new social media front in the terrorists’ war against America. Extremist groups long have used the Internet to distribute videos, audio recordings and other messages. But this is the first time they have tried to establish a presence on the microblogging site Twitter.

New scholarship: Targeted killing and drone warfare

04/28/11: SSRN has published a new essay by Kenneth Anderson titled "Targeted Killing and Drone Warfare: How We Came to Debate Whether There is a ‘Legal Geography of War.' Anderson  examines the evolution of the argument around the proposition that there is a “legal geography of war,” meaning whether the law of war applies only within certain geographically defined areas. He does so in the context of the war on terror and counterterrorism, and specifically in the debates over targeted killing and armed drone warfare.

Embattled Arab leaders decide it’s better to fight than quit

04/28/11: The New York Times reports that Arab leaders facing public revolt have increasingly concluded that it is better to fight back than to abdicate and flee. That calculation appears to be based on the short-term results of the Arab Spring. Those who have left, namely Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, face the humiliation of a criminal investigation, a trial and possible imprisonment. Those who have opted to stick with the use of force, like the president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, have retained power and appear to have leverage to negotiate immunity should they leave.

Holder defends decision to spare CAIR official

04/27/11: IPT reports that Attorney General Eric Holder has acknowledged that the DOJ nixed a request from Dallas prosecutors last year to bring criminal charges against a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) founder. Omar Ahmad was a key figure in a network of groups called the Palestine Committee which, prosecutors say and government exhibits show, was created to help Hamas politically and financially. The committee's financial arm, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) and five former officials were indicted in 2004 and convicted in 2008.

Israeli leader orders stepped-up efforts to prevent international flotilla from reaching Gaza

04/27/11: The Washington Post reports that Israel’s prime minister is stepping up efforts to prevent an international flotilla from reaching the blockaded Gaza Strip in the coming months. Israel wants to prevent a repeat of last year’s showdown with a Gaza-bound flotilla that tried to break through the Israeli blockade. Nine Turkish activists were killed in clashes with naval commandos. Pro-Palestinian activists hope to send a new flotilla in late May or early June.

WikiLeaks donations topped $1.9 million in 2010

04/27/11: Wired reports that a German nonprofit that processes most of the donations submitted to the secret-spilling site WikiLeaks has released a report detailing how those donations are spent — though the report remains silent on how much money was paid to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. According to the report, the foundation received about $1.9 million on behalf of WikiLeaks in 2010. More than half of that amount, or $700,000, came in November and December, after WikiLeaks and several newspapers began publishing a trove of US diplomatic cables.

No charges for man who leaked surveillance program

04/27/11: Politico reports that the DOJ has dropped its long-running criminal investigation of a lawyer who publicly admitted leaking information about President George W. Bush’s top-secret warrantless wiretapping program to The New York Times. The decision not to prosecute former DOJ lawyer Thomas Tamm means it is unlikely that anyone will ever be charged for the disclosures that led to the Times’s Pulitzer Prize-winning story in December 2005 revealing that, after the September 11 attacks, Bush ordered the interception of certain phone calls and email messages into and out of the US without a warrant.

Forthcoming scholarship on national security law

04/26/11: Robert Chesney's National Security Law Listserv has posted the following forthcoming scholarship on national security law:

• Michael N. Schmitt, "Drone Attacks Under the Jus ad Bellum and Jus in Bello: Clearing the 'Fog of Law'"
• Peter H. Schuck, "Suing Government Lawyers for Giving Dubious Legal Advice in a National Security Crisis: Notes on How (Not) to Become a Banana Republic"
• Laurie R. Blank, "A New Twist on an Old Story: Lawfare and the Mixing of Proportionalities" 
• Jerome A. Barron, "The Pentagon Papers Case and the Wikileaks Controversy: National Security and the First Amendment" 
• Michael Robert Epstein, "Targeted Killing Court: Why the United States Needs to Adopt International Legal Standards for Targeted Killings and How to Do So in a Domestic Court"

DOJ to focus on terrorism, financial fraud

04/26/11: JURIST reports that US Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday delineated the priorities and missions for the US Department of Justice for the remainder of his present term. Holder said that the DOJ's priorities will include protecting Americans from terrorism at home and abroad, fighting violent crime, combating financial fraud and protecting the most vulnerable members of society. Holder recognized the DOJ's work in fighting terrorism, citing that the department prosecuted more terrorists than in any other two-year period.

Vacant State Department inspector general position draws criticism

04/26/11: The Washington Post reports that, as the State Department gears up to take over new responsibilities in Iraq from the military over the next year, the Obama administration’s failure to nominate a top internal watchdog for its diplomatic work in the Middle East and elsewhere has begun to attract new criticism. The inspector general’s position in the department has been unfilled since 2007, longer than any of the other 72 such positions in the government.

US officials in Illinois charge 4 more in 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, India, that left 166 dead

04/26/11: The Washington Post reports that US prosecutors charged four Pakistani men Monday in connection with the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, that killed 166 people, including six Americans, although none of the defendants is in US custody. A second superseding indictment filed in US District Court in Chicago adds Sajid Mir, Abu Qahafa, Mazhar Iqbal and a fourth defendant known only by the alias “Major Iqbal” to a case that already included an American businessman and two others with alleged ties to the Pakistani-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

British firm offered spy software to Egypt

04/26/11: The Washington Times reports that Egyptian anti-regime activists found a startling document last month during a raid inside the headquarters of the country’s state security service: A British company offered to sell a program that security experts say could infect dissidents’ computers and gain access to their email and other communications. The discovery highlights the emerging market of Western companies that sell software to security services from the Middle East to China to spy on the kinds of social media activists who recently toppled regimes in Egypt and Tunisia.

Commentary: Guantanamo Bay - Why Obama hasn’t fulfilled his promise to close the facility

04/25/11: The Washington Post has posted a commentary, based on interviews with more than 30 current and former administration officials and members of congress, exploring why the Obama Administration has not followed through on its pledge to close Guantanamo Bay.

US sees terror links in Pakistani intelligence

04/25/11: CBS News reports that Guantanamo Bay authorities named Pakistan's main intelligence agency a terrorist organization along with Hamas and other international militant networks, according to leaked documents likely to damage already rocky relations between the spy body and the CIA. The 2007 documents from the Guantanamo Bay prison were part of a batch of classified material released by the Wikileaks website and included interrogation summaries from more than 700 detainees.

Moroccan cities see new political protests

04/25/11: The Miami Herald reports that several thousand protesters have staged protests in cities around Morocco to demand more political changes. The protests were organized by the February 20 movement, which has led protests for the past two months, with support from Morocco's best-known Islamist movement, Adl wal Ihsan, which is barred from politics in the kingdom. King Mohammed VI has pledged changes to the constitution for the first time in 15 years, amid a push for greater democracy across the Arab world.

Taliban help hundreds tunnel out of prison’s political wing

04/25/11: The New York Times reports that the Taliban staged an audacious prison break here early Monday, freeing at least 476 political prisoners through a long tunnel. National security officials said the tunnel was dug from the outside and went under the Kabul-Kandahar highway and then into the prison. There are conflicting reports on its length, ranging from roughly 360 meters stated by the Taliban to police who said it was more than 1,000 meters.

Northern Ireland police seize dissident weapons

04/25/11: The Miami Herald reports that Northern Ireland police have charged three men with a series of terrorist offenses linked to the discovery of suspected dissident firearms. The three suspects were arrested on Friday. The arms seizures on Friday was the first of three similar hauls recovered in south Armagh in two days. They come as police remain on high alert across Northern Ireland amid fears of a terror attack to mark traditional republican commemorations of the 1916 Easter Rising against British rule.

Lawmaker wants DNA from suspects when arrested for state crimes

04/25/11: The Washington Post reports that Republican congressman, Reichert wants Congress to expand the use of DNA testing by getting more states to collect DNA samples, just as they do fingerprints, when suspected felons are arrested for state crimes. Such testing is already allowed for anyone arrested by a US law enforcement agency for a federal crime. Critics, including the ACLU, say it’s an invasion of privacy and that DNA testing should be reserved for convicted felons. They note that hundreds of thousands of people are arrested each year but that many of them are never charged or convicted.

Scholarship: The Reach of the Fifth Amendment after Boumediene and the Relationship Between Habeas Corpus and Due Process

04/24/11: SSRN has posted an article entitled: "Of Suspension, Due Process, and Guantanamo: The Reach of the Fifth Amendment after Boumediene and the Relationship Between Habeas Corpus and Due Process." This Article examines the surprisingly under-explored relationship between habeas corpus and due process. Since the Supreme Court's Boumediene decision, the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has affirmed its pre-Boumediene conclusion that the Due Process Clause does not apply to Guantanamo detainees. This unusual severing of the typically dual protections of habeas review and due process raises the interesting question of how those two constitutional provisions relate. HT to Neal R. Sonnett.

Kenyan official says 3 men caught with explosives

04/23/11: The Miami Herald reports that a police official says they are interrogating three men in Kenya who were arrested carrying bomb-making material. The three men were arrested Thursday near the Somalia border the same day police issued an alert over possible terror attacks in Kenya by al-Shabab - a Somali insurgent group. The arrested include two Kenyans and a person believed to be Sudanese.

ElBaradei suggests war crimes probe of Bush team

04/23/11: The Associated Press reports that former chief UN nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei suggests in a new memoir that Bush administration officials should face international criminal investigation for the "shame of a needless war" in Iraq. The Nobel-winning Egyptian accuses US leaders of "grotesque distortion" in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion, when then-President George W. Bush and his lieutenants claimed Iraq possessed doomsday weapons despite contrary evidence collected by ElBaradei's and other arms inspectors inside the country.

Police say 20th suspect arrested in Indonesia bomb plots is TV cameraman

04/23/11: The Washington Post reports that a TV news cameraman arrested in Indonesian bomb plots had been recruited to film and broadcast the group’s terrorist acts, including a foiled Good Friday church attack. Global-TV cameraman Imam Firdaus was among 20 suspects arrested in a series of anti-terror raids this week. The 20 arrests were made as part of an investigation of mail bombs sent last month in Jakarta to targets the perpetrators blamed for “sins against Islam.”

Judge says defense can't question Islamic charity case lawyers

04/23/11: The Miami Herald reports that a federal judge says lawyers for an Islamic charity co-founder convicted on money-smuggling charges can't question prosecutors in the defense's request to seek a new trial. Pete Seda was convicted last year of helping to smuggle $150,000 to Saudi Arabia through the charity's Oregon office. Court documents show that after he was convicted, the FBI asked for approval of a $7,500 payment to a prosecution witness. Defense lawyers wanted to ask prosecutors about their failure to disclose information about the proposed payment.

Most agencies are out of compliance with secrecy policy

04/22/11: Secrecy News reports that most executive branch agencies failed to meet a December 2010 deadline set by President Obama to issue implementing regulations for his December 2009 executive order on national security classification policy, dealing a setback to the Administration’s classification reform agenda. Despite last year’s presidential deadline, “As of March 15, 2011, only 19 of 41 agencies have issued their implementing regulations in final form,” according to the latest Annual Report to the President from the Information Security Oversight Office.

Court backs Ohio Muslim leader stopped at border

04/22/11: The Miami Herald reports that a federal appeals court has sided with an Ohio Muslim leader who is trying to find out why she was detained at a border crossing five years ago. Julia Shearson is director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations office in Cleveland. She was stopped by US border agents in Buffalo, NY, in 2006 as she returned with her daughter from a weekend in Canada. Shearson later sued for records about her case from the departments of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection.

Bill seeks to designate drug cartels as terrorists

04/22/11: The Texas Tribune reports that a Texas congressman is seeking to designate seven of the top Mexican cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations,” a move he says would give law enforcement in the US enhanced tools to combat the cartels. Critics of the proposal, by US Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, fear such a designation could harm Mexico’s ability to wage its own fight against the cartels and damage the US's relationship with Mexico. HT to the New York Times.

Iraq PM tells top US military officer that Iraqi troops are ready to take over security

04/22/11: The Washington Post reports that Iraq’s prime minister has told the top US military officer that Iraqi forces are able to maintain security in their own country, as discussions intensify over whether to keep any US forces in Iraq past this year. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made the remark during a late Thursday meeting with Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff. An agreement between both countries stipulates that all American forces are to leave by December 31.

Federal agency files large human-trafficking suit

04/21/11: CNN reports that the federal government is calling a human-trafficking lawsuit against a California-based farm labor contractor the largest case of alleged forced labor of farm workers in the United States. The lawsuit, made public Tuesday by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, accused Global Horizons Manpower Inc., based in Beverly Hills, California, and eight farms in Hawaii and Washington state of luring more than 200 men from Thailand to work at farms in Hawaii and Washington where they were subjected to abuse.

Two Western photojournalists killed in Libya, including “Restrepo” director Tim Hetherington

04/21/11: The Washington Post reports that two Western journalists were killed and two others working alongside them were wounded while covering battles between rebels and government forces. British-born Tim Hetherington, the Oscar-nominated co-director of the documentary “Restrepo”, was killed Wednesday inside the only rebel-held city in western Libya. Chris Hondros, a New York-based photographer for Getty Images, was also killed Wednesday. His work appeared in major magazines and newspapers around the world, and his awards include the Robert Capa Gold Medal, one of the highest prizes in war photography.

Oman pardons 234 arrested during protests

04/21/11: CNN reports that Oman's ruler has pardoned 234 people who were arrested during anti-government protests earlier in the year. Sultan Qaboos bin Said pardoned only those who were taken into custody for "the crimes of crowding in public streets." Those who blocked roads, obstructed police and attacked public employees were referred to courts for prosecution. Protesters took to the streets in the key port city of Sohar and other areas in late February to demand greater freedom of expression, higher salaries and a clampdown on government corruption. They also called for a new constitution, and the prosecution of security officials whose actions led to the death of demonstrators.

Mullen accuses Pakistan of keeping terrorist links

04/21/11: The Miami Herald reports that the American military's top officer used an interview on Pakistani television Wednesday night to accuse the country's spy agency of supporting an Afghan insurgent group that's blamed for killing US and Afghan forces, as well as civilians, in some of the bloodiest attacks in Afghanistan. The remarks by Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chefs of Staff, were the first time a senior US official has issued in such blunt terms in public what US officials privately have long charged is Pakistani double-dealing on the war against Islamic militants in Afghanistan.

Event: Non-international Armed Conflict in the 21st Century

04/21/11: The US Naval War College will be hosting the 2011 U.S. Naval War College International Law Conference on 21-23 June. The topic is “Non-international Armed Conflict in the 21st Century.” The conference will examine the legal issues surrounding Non-international Armed Conflict (NIAC) in the 21st Century. During this conference, distinguished scholars and practitioners of international law will analyze the state of the law applicable to the many facets of NIAC and will discuss their views on how the law will develop as the world continues to struggle with the evolving threats to national and international security posed by failed and failing states, insurgencies, and transnational criminal and terrorist organizations. HT to Robert Chesney.

Urgent UN rights meeting on Mideast unrest planned

04/20/11: The Miami Herald reports that several members of the UN's top human rights body are pressing for an emergency meeting to examine the government crackdowns against popular protests that have swept the Middle East and North Africa. The countries, from Latin America, Europe, North America and Asia, are trying to collect 16 signatures necessary to force a special session of the UN Human Rights Council next week. Diplomats confirmed that Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria would be among the nations whose violent suppression of protests would be on the agenda.

Hundreds of Kenyans still missing 3 years after military crackdown on western militia

04/20/11: The Washington Post reports that hundreds of men who disappeared in 2008 during a military crackdown against a militia in western Kenya remain missing, human rights activists said Wednesday as human bones are turning up in drains, rivers and shallow graves. The government’s failure to investigate the killings follows a familiar pattern of impunity for Kenyan security forces accused of torturing and killing civilians, said activists who are planning to submit cases to the UN for investigation in the coming few weeks. The Kenyan army has denied any wrongdoing and has said it is unaware of any disappearances.

Ex-Rwanda prosecutor arrested in Belgium on genocide charges

04/20/11: JURIST reports that Belgian prosecutors announced Wednesday that police in Belgium arrested Rwandan Mathias Bushishi Monday for his involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Bushishi is accused of using his role as prosecutor to assist in the extermination of Tutsis in the city of Butare during the genocide. Belgian law allows the government to prosecute Belgian residents for war crimes and genocide committed in other countries, meaning Bushishi may be tried in Belgium. Bushishi will appear in court Friday.

Color-coded threat scale is tossed

04/20/11: The Los Angeles Times reports that the much-lampooned color-coded Department of Homeland Security threat alerts are being replaced with a simpler, two-level system that warns of specific dangers for a defined period of time. New alerts will advise the public that there is an "elevated threat" or a more serious and specific "imminent threat." The warnings will include a concise statement about the danger and steps that can be taken to mitigate the risk to the public.

Forthcoming scholarship on national security law

04/20/11: Robert Chesney's National Security Law Listserv has posted the following forthcoming scholarship on national security law

• Trevor W. Morrison: Constitutional Alarmism (Reviewing Bruce Ackerman, the Decline and Fall of the American Republic (2010))
• Robert Reinstein: "Executive Power and the Law of Nations in the Washington Administration"
• Lou Fisher: Obama’s UN Authority
• Richard Schragger: "The Politics of Free Exercise After Employment Division v. Smith: Same-Sex Marriage, the 'War on Terror,' and Religious Freedom"

UK court clears way for possible release of man convicted of plotting to blow up El Al jet

04/20/11: The Washington Post reports that an Arab terrorist jailed for duping his pregnant fiance into trying to sneak a bomb aboard an Israeli jumbo jet could be released early following a British court’s ruling Tuesday. Nazir Hindawi’s 1986 attempt to bring down an El Al flight between London and Tel Aviv horrified Britons and led to the breakdown of relations between Britain and Syria, which Western officials blamed for organizing the plot. Hindawi received an usually stiff 45-year-long sentence for the crime, but he became eligible for parole in 2001 and has been lobbying for an early release since.

Russia abandons $1B Western aid to weapons program

04/20/11: The Miami Herald reports that Russia is pulling out of a program that poured $1 billion from the US government and other foreign donors into the research labs that built the Soviet Union's vast arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. The center gave tens of thousands of experts in nuclear, chemical and biological warfare the chance to engage in civilian research and work with colleagues from the US and other nations, instead of selling their services to rogue regimes or terrorists after the Cold War. But it long outlived the crisis that inspired its creation.

EU police crack down on human smuggling network

04/19/11: The Miami Herald reports that police in Europe have arrested 98 people as they cracked a smuggling network that brought thousands of Vietnamese to Europe, sometimes as slave labor for secret British marijuana plantations. The smugglers even set up their own travel agency in Hungary to facilitate their trafficking, Lt. Col. Zoltan Boross of Hungary's National Investigation Office said Tuesday, adding that several of those arrested were counterfeiters who prepared fake documents for the migrants.

Brother of triple agent who blew himself up in CIA outpost in Afghanistan arrested in Jordan

04/19/11: The Washington Post reports that Jordan’s counterterrorism forces have arrested the brother of an al-Qaida triple agent who blew himself up in a CIA outpost in Afghanistan in 2009. Ayman al-Balawi, 38, was detained in a sweep Friday along with 102 other members of the ultraconservative Muslim Salafi sect. Salafis — a banned sect — have held a series of rallies in various parts of the country in recent weeks. Their demonstrations are separate from the four-month-old wave of anti-government protests demanding democratic reforms and inspired by uprisings in the Arab world.

Pakistani army says it successfully test-fires newly developed short-range missile

04/19/11: The Washington Post reports that Pakistan’s military says it has test-fired a newly developed short-range missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. It says the missile has a range of 60 kilometers (35 miles) and can carry nuclear warheads with high accuracy. Pakistan routinely test-fires what it claims are indigenously developed short and long-range missiles capable of carrying the country’s nuclear weapons. The international community closely watches Pakistan’s weapons program because the nation has fought three wars with its nuclear-armed neighbor, India, since 1947.

Commentary: The unraveling of Boumediene: Habeas still a right without a remedy

04/19/11: Balkinization has posted a commentary on the Supreme Court's denial of certiorari petition in Kiyemba v. Obama, the long-running battle involving Uighur prisoners detained at Guantanamo Bay. The issue raised by the litigation is central: does a federal habeas judge have the authority to order the release of a prisoner unlawfully detained at Guantanamo Bay? The DC Circuit panel’s approach in Kiyemba flatly contradicts the Supreme Court’s decision in Boumediene v. Bush, which said that the right of habeas corpus protected by the Suspension Clause must include the power “to formulate and issue appropriate orders for relief, including, if necessary, an order directing the prisoner’s release.”

Forthcoming scholarship on national security law

04/18/11: Robert Chesney's National Security Law Listserv has posted the following forthcoming scholarship on national security law:

• Kenneth Anderson: “'Efficiency' Jus in Bello and 'Efficiency' Jus Ad Bellum in the Practice of Targeted Killing Through Drone Warfare?"
• Geoffrey S. Corn and Sharon Finegan: “America’s Longest Held Prisoner of War: Lessons Learned from the Capture, Prosecution, and Extradition of General Manuel Noriega”
• Geoffrey S. Corn: “Targeting, Command Judgment, and a Proposed Quantum of Proof Component: A Fourth Amendment Lesson in Contextual Reasonableness”
• Laurie R. Blank: “A Square Peg in a Round Hole: Stretching Law of War Detention Too Far”

Somali minister says more piracy help needed

04/18/11: The Miami Herald reports that the foreign minister of Somalia urged world powers Monday to do more to fight the root causes of piracy on land rather than trying to tackle the problem on the high seas. Mohammed Abdullahi Omar told a counter-piracy conference in Dubai that pirates are winning despite the efforts by foreign nations to try to contain them as they shift their operations further from his country's shores. He said the lack of an effective Somali government - and military and police forces to back it up - is at the core of the piracy scourge.

Israel’s changes in response to the Goldstone report

04/18/11: Opinio Juris reports that publicly, Israel has been nothing but critical of the Goldstone Report. Behind the scenes, however, Israel has taken a different approach.  According to the Jewish Press, the Report has led the IDF to adopt some very significant reforms to its war-fighting policies: Among the changes made by the IDF were modifying the way soldiers fight in urban areas, teaching relatively low-level combat officers nuances in the laws of war, attaching humanitarian liaison officers to active forces and making media relations a priority.