Georgetown Security Law Brief

In case you missed it ...

05/31/12: Important stories from this week:

Secret 'kill list' proves a test of Obama's principles and will

The Obama Administration has created a ‘kill list,’ supervised and approved directly by the President, determining suspected terrorists who will be targeted by US drone strikes or other attacks.

For White House, wary wait as Syria boils

In the wake of the massacre and atrocities in Houla, the White House ratcheted up diplomatic pressure on Syria and its defenders, but still hasn't come close to favoring military action.  Mitt Romney criticized President Obama's refusal to intervene.

Pakistani doctor guilty of militancy, not CIA links

The judgment against Dr. Shakil Afridi reveals he was actually imprisoned for working with a Pakistani militant group rather than for helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden.  The militant group has since denied any connection with Afridi.

Researchers discover massive new cyber-attack "Flame"

The newly uncovered virus has infected hundreds of computers in Iran, with some warning it may prove to be more devastating than the Stuxnet virus that destroyed some of Iran's nuclear centrifuges in 2010.  Flame, however, is aimed strictly at surveillance and accessing information.

Israel skeptical of new efforts on Iranian nuclear program

Israeli leaders voiced skepticism this week over any future talks with Iran over its controversial nuclear program.  They accused Tehran of stalling for time and said the West shouldn't allow Iran to enrich any uranium.

Top Egyptian presidential candidate doubts al-Qaeda role in 9/11

05/31/12: The Washington Times reports the longtime Muslim Brotherhood leader who may become Egypt’s next president has long cast doubt on al-Qaeda’s involvement in the September 11th terrorist attacks and even has called for a “scientific conference” to determine the real culprits.  “The US administration has never presented any evidences [sic] on the identity of those who committed that incident,” Mohamed Morsi is quoted as saying in a 2007 posting on the Brotherhood’s official English website.  Morsi last week won the most votes in the first round of Egypt’s presidential election and is favored to win a runoff next month against Ahmed Shafik.

Pakistani militant group denies link to doctor

05/31/12: The Miami Herald reports a Pakistani militant group has denied any links with the doctor who helped the US track down Osama bin Laden, threatening Thursday to kill him for working with the Americans.  The statement by Lashkar-e-Islam was the latest twist in the case of Dr. Shakil Afridi, whose plight has angered Washington and opened up another crack in relations with Islamabad.  Afridi ran a vaccination campaign on behalf of the CIA as a way of collecting blood samples from bin Laden's family in their house in northwest Pakistan.  Last week he was sentenced to 33 years in prison, angering many in the United States.  On Wednesday the court released its written verdict, which found Afridi guilty of assisting Lashkar-e-Islam, a brutal militant and criminal gang operating in Khyber tribal region, where Afridi worked.

Clinton: Russia contributing to potential Syria civil war

05/31/12: BBC News reports Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says Russia's policy toward Syria will contribute to a potential civil war.  Clinton's comments came after Russia and China renewed opposition to tougher UN Security Council action.  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has repeated a warning that Syria could be moving towards "catastrophic" civil war, in the wake of the Houla massacre.  Rebel commanders are split on whether to abandon a ceasefire if Syrian forces do not withdraw to barracks.  Colonel Qassim Saadeddine in Homs said that if there was no government response by Friday lunchtime, the rebels would consider themselves "no longer bound" by the plan.  But rebel leader General Riyad Asaad later denied the deadline existed.  Secretary Clinton, speaking on a visit to Denmark, said the case for military intervention was growing stronger every day.

A "Do Not Kill" list

05/31/12: The Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog reports someone incited by the New York Times’s reporting on President Obama’s kill list (see below), has started a petition drive for a “Do Not Kill” list.  If the petition reaches 25,000 signatures by the end of June, the Obama Administration will have to review it and issue a response.  As of this posting, the petition has 1,920 signatures.

Lawmakers consider extension of overseas surveillance powers

05/31/12: The Hill reports a House of Representatives panel on Thursday will consider renewing a law that gives officials broad leeway to conduct surveillance overseas when the target isn’t a US citizen.  The provision under Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) has garnered concern from some Democrats, who worry the powers might be used to target American citizens and legal residents in the United States.  The FISA measure, which expires at the end of the year, grants US intelligence officials the power to monitor phone calls, e-mails, and other communications of suspected terrorists abroad once they obtain a court order.  The provision also allows officials to get blanket approval from the FISA court for surveillance outside of the United States without having to file individual applications for each person being monitored.

Israel skeptical of new diplomatic efforts on Iranian nuclear program

05/31/12: The Washington Post reports Israeli leaders are expressing deep skepticism about the chances for a diplomatic breakthrough with Iran and urging tougher international demands that after an inconclusive round of talks this month with world powers about its nuclear program.  Following months of advocating stricter sanctions against Iran, Israeli officials are now pushing for a halt to all its uranium enrichment activity, warning that further delays could put the Iranian nuclear program beyond the reach of an effective military strike.  The Israeli statements, ahead of another planned round of talks in Moscow in June, reflect concerns that the sense of urgency that pervaded earlier discussions on Iran has faded in recent months.  “We have no illusions about the talks,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday.

Australia: no sign from US of Assange indictment

05/31/12: NPR reports Australia has talked to the United States about the future of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, but Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Thursday that her government can't protect the Australian activist from other countries' justice systems.  Foreign Minister Bob Carr revealed on Thursday that he had discussed the concerns of Assange and his family with American officials.  Assange claims that the US has already secretly indicted him for divulging American secrets, and will act on the indictment if Sweden succeeds in extraditing him from Britain, but Carr told reporters "[t]he United States has said nothing to indicate they're planning an indictment.”  Australian authorities have cooperated with the United States in investigating WikiLeaks' conduct.  They have concluded that Assange has broken no Australian law.

Guantanamo hearings set during Ramadan, 9/11 anniversary

05/31/12: The Miami Herald reports a military judge overseeing the September 11 conspiracy trial at Guantanamo Bay has set the next hearing in the case for five days during Ramadan, and says the month when Muslim fast during the day is no excuse for a delay.  The judge, Army Colonel James L. Pohl, made note of the holy month in a scheduling order that grappled with the complexities of mounting the joint capital trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged accomplices at the naval station in southeast Cuba.  He set the hearing for August 8-12, a first ever war court session that would convene on both a Saturday and a Sunday.  Members of the five separate defense teams had reported conflicts for June and July.

Russian colonel convicted of spying for US

05/31/12: ABC News reports a Russian court has convicted a reserve colonel of spying on behalf of the United States and sentenced him to 12 years in prison, the country's intelligence agency said Thursday.  Vladimir Lazar would be sent to a high-security prison and stripped of his military rank, the FSB said in a statement.  Prosecutors alleged Lazar purchased a disk with more than 7,000 images of classified topographical maps of Russia from a collector in 2008 and smuggled it to neighboring Belarus where he gave it to an American agent.  The agency said the maps could be used for planning military operations against Russia.

For White House, a wary wait as Syria boils

05/31/12: The New York Times discusses the White House’s position on Syria, which remains opposed to military intervention.  While the government of President Bashar al-Assad has brutalized its citizens for more than a year, President Obama still shows no signs of intervening with force; press secretary Jay Carney said this would lead only to “chaos and carnage.”  With American troops only recently withdrawn from Iraq and still in Afghanistan, the president is loath to engage in a new military action, especially one with few advocates, even among human rights groups.  And yet with each passing incident, the scale of the crisis grows.

Syrian government to place blame for Houla massacre after "investigation"

05/31/12: CNN reports Syria’s UN ambassador said Wednesday that Damascus will soon complete its official investigation into last week's massacre in Houla.  Syrian officials have repeatedly denied government involvement in the massacre that left more than 100 people dead, about half of them children.  But Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN human rights office, said Tuesday that it's "clear" government forces were involved.  Most died as a result of "summary executions" by "armed men going into houses and killing men, women and children inside," Colville said, saying the Shabiha militia, a government militia group, appeared to be behind the executions.  Since the conflict began more than a year ago, President Bashar al-Assad's regime has blamed violence against civilians on "armed terrorist groups," a line the Syrian ambassador adhered to Wednesday.

Romney struggles to differentiate foreign policy from President Obama's

05/31/12: The LA Times describes Mitt Romney’s difficulty in attacking President Obama’s foreign policy but failing to articulate how his policy would be different.  Romney has roughed up Obama with a hawkish tone — at times bordering on belligerent – yet for all his criticisms of the President, it has been difficult to tell exactly what Romney would do differently.  He has argued that reelecting Obama will result in Iran having a nuclear weapon — without explaining how. He has charged that Obama should have taken "more assertive steps" to force out the repressive regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad — but has said he is not "anxious to employ military action."  He accused Obama of tipping his hand to the Taliban by announcing a timeline for withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, but also accepts the 2014 timeline.

With Plan X, Pentagon seeks to spread US military might to cyberspace

05/31/12: The Washington Post reports the Pentagon is turning to the private sector, universities and even computer-game companies as part of an ambitious effort to develop technologies to improve its cyberwarfare capabilities, launch effective attacks and withstand the likely retaliation.  The previously unreported effort, which its authors have dubbed Plan X, marks a new phase in the nation’s fledgling military operations in cyberspace, which have focused more on protecting the Defense Department’s computer systems than on disrupting or destroying those of enemies.  Plan X is a project of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a Pentagon division that focuses on experimental efforts and has a key role in harnessing computing power to help the military wage war more effectively.

Pentagon leaders consider options for East Coast missile defense system

05/30/12: The Hill reports a top military commander said on Wednesday that Pentagon leaders are looking at options to bolster missile defense capabilities in the continental United States, including the establishment of a missile shield on the East Coast.  The creation of an East Coast missile shield was one of many issued being hashed out as part of the so-called "hedge strategy" being worked inside the Pentagon, according to Strategic Command chief General Bob Kehler.  The strategy, mandated by Congress, will help weigh the department's options on whether to expand the current, limited anti-missile capabilities already in place across the United States, Kehler said during a speech in Washington.

Republican foreign policy establishment slow to embrace Romney

05/30/12: The New York Times reports that many respected foreign policy thinkers within the Republican party have not supported (or given muted, unenthusiastic endorsements for) Mitt Romney’s presidential ambitions. Reluctance by this group to more quickly come forward for reflects unease over some of the Romney’s positions, including his hard line on Russia and opposition to a new missile treaty. Many believe Romney has taken approaches too confrontational or too hawkish, or worry that harsh campaign-trail statements could hurt later diplomatic efforts and may signal a return to neoconservative passions as the party seeks to take back the White House. Some longtime deans of the Republican establishment, such as two-time national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, believe the Republican Party as a whole has drifted rightward.

Israel gets the blame for "Flame" virus

05/30/12: The International Herald Tribune has this post discussing early speculation that Israel is behind the “Flame” virus just discovered to have infected Iranian computers.  The new virus was identified on Monday by Kaspersky Labs, a security research firm in Moscow.  An earlier virus, Stuxnet, was used to destroy centrifuges at an Iranian nuclear facility in 2010.  Moshe Ya’alon, Israel’s vice premier, fuelled speculation of Israeli involvement on Tuesday when he said, “Whoever sees the Iranian threat as a serious threat would be likely to take different steps, including these, in order to hurt them.”  Israel is a country blessed with superior technology, he said.  “These achievements of ours open up all kinds of possibilities for us.”  As with Stuxnet, no government is likely to acknowledge responsibility.

ICC appeals chamber upholds dismissal of charges against Rwanda rebel leader

05/30/12: JURIST reports the appeals chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday affirmed the pretrial chamber’s ruling that there is not enough evidence to try Rwandan rebel leader Callixte Mbarushimana.  Mbarushimana was allegedly tied to the murder, rape and torture of Congolese villagers by Hutu militia in 2009.  He was accused of being the Executive Secretary of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) since 2007.  In the decision, Judge Erkki Kourula noted that the chamber below found that the prosecution had no evidence materially linking Mbarushimana to any of his alleged crimes.  The prosecution may resubmit charges against Mbarushimana if new evidence surfaces.  Mbarushimana was released from ICC custody in December.

Pakistani doctor guilty of militancy, not CIA links

05/30/12: The Associated Press (via Google News) reports the Pakistani doctor who assisted the CIA in tracking down Osama bin Laden was sentenced to 33 years in prison for conspiring with an Islamist militant commander, a verdict that could make it more difficult for Washington to argue for his release.  The judgment against Shakil Afridi debunked the widely held assumption that he had been convicted for his involvement with the American spy agency.  The decision referred to unspecified evidence that Afridi had "acted" with foreign intelligence agencies, but went on to say any charges related to that couldn't be considered because the court didn't have jurisdiction.  The Associated Press obtained a copy of the five-page document, first reported by Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, on Wednesday.

In Yemen, US airstrikes breed anger, sympathy for al-Qaeda

05/30/12: The Washington Post reports an escalating campaign of US drone strikes is stirring increasing sympathy for al-Qaeda-linked militants in southern Yemen and driving tribesmen to join a network linked to terrorist plots against the United States. After recent US missile strikes, mostly from unmanned aircraft, the Yemeni government and the United States have reported that the attacks killed only suspected al-Qaeda members. But civilians have also died in the attacks, said tribal leaders, victims’ relatives and human rights activists. Since January, as many as twenty-one missile attacks have targeted suspected al-Qaeda operatives in southern Yemen, reflecting a sharp shift in a secret war carried out by the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command that had focused on Pakistan, and an unintended consequence of the attacks has been a marked radicalization of the local population.

Charles Taylor sentenced to 50 years for war crimes

05/30/12: CNN reports former Liberian President Charles Taylor was sentenced to 50 years in prison Wednesday by an international court in The Hague, Netherlands.  Taylor was convicted last month of aiding rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone in a campaign of terror, involving murder, rape, sexual slavery and the conscription children younger than 15; he was the first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes since World War II.  There is no death penalty in international criminal law, and Taylor, 64, would serve out his sentence in a British prison.

Obama will not arm Syrian rebels; Romney criticizes "lack of leadership"

05/30/12: The Hill reports President Obama and Mitt Romney on Tuesday offered clashing views over whether to arm insurgents in Syria after a weekend massacre left more than 100 people dead and drew international condemnation.  Romney called for the United States and partner nations to “arm the opposition so they can defend themselves” against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but White House press secretary Jay Carney warned that would lead to more “chaos and carnage” and was “not the right course.”  The deep divide highlighted the realpolitik approach in Syria favored by an Obama administration focused on convincing Syrian ally Russia to pressure Assad and concerned about where weapons intended for insurgents might end up.

Four possible scenarios for Syria

05/30/12: CNN outlines four possibilities for the international community’s next move to try to stop the atrocities in Syria.  The violence has left more than 12,000 slain since March 2011, according to one count, and tens of thousands of people have been displaced.  The possibilities are to continue the UN-backed Kofi Annan peace plan, provide some form of military assistance, increase diplomatic pressure, or to use the ‘Yemen model’ which would force a deal compelling the departure of President Bashar al-Assad.

UK court denies bail for "bin Laden's right hand man" Abu Qatada

05/30/12: JURIST reports a judge for the UK Special Immigration Appeals Commission on Monday denied an application for bail by Muslim cleric Abu Qatada.  In his decision, Mr. Justice Mitting suggested that the risk of losing Qatada was too great to allow his release, especially given his likely pending deportation.  Qatada has been described as "Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe," and UK officials believe he should be kept in prison for national security reasons.  However, he has never formally been charged with an offense, and has been in and out of custody either in prison or some form of house arrest.

Supreme Court rejects appeal for compensation by former Iran hostages

05/30/12: The New York Times reports the Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the last legal appeal for former American hostages seeking compensation for their captivity in Iran three decades ago, leaving legislation newly introduced in Congress as the last chance to resolve their longstanding grievance.  A lower court, acting at the request of the State Department, previously blocked the hostages’ effort to win compensation from Iran, holding that the agreement under which they were released barred such claims.  The former hostages had sued under a 1996 law that they argued allowed them to seek damages, and in August 2001 they won a judgment of liability, because Iran did not appear in court to defend itself.  Yesterday, however, the Supreme Court denied certiorari to review the judgment that the hostages couldn’t receive damages.

Commitment to declassify FISA court rulings yields no results

05/30/12: Secrecy News reports an initiative that was started two years ago to declassify significant rulings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court regarding domestic intelligence surveillance has produced no declassified records, a Justice Department official confirmed last week.  In response to complaints about the rise of “secret law,” the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence established a new process in 2010 to declassify opinions of the FISA Courts (including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court as well as the FIS Court of Review) that contained “important rulings of law.”  But two years after that declassification review process began, nothing has been declassified.

Netanyahu: world powers too soft on Iran

05/30/12: The Miami Herald reports Israel’s Prime Minister said Tuesday that world powers are being too soft over Iran's nuclear program by only asking an end to low grade enrichment.  Iran held nuclear talks in Baghdad last week with six powers - the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.  The talks accompanied reports that Iran had enriched uranium to more than 20 percent.  Israel and the West fear that could be quickly boosted to weapons-grade material of 95 percent.  Netanyahu said the world powers should be tougher in their demands on Iran.  "Iran must stop all nuclear enrichment, remove from its territory all material that has been enriched until now and demolish the underground (nuclear) facility in Qom," Netanyahu said.

Russia warns of retaliation over US Magnitsky Bill

05/29/12: The Washington Post reports Russia is prepared to retaliate if the US Congress passes the so-called Magnitsky bill, which would freeze assets of and deny US visas to Russian officials linked to human rights abuses.  “We would very much like to avoid it,” said Yuri Ushakov, President Vladimir Putin’s top foreign adviser. “But if this new anti-Russian law is adopted, then of course that demands measures in response.”  The Obama Administration has been resisting the bill, introduced by Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), viewing it as too provocative, even as the State Department has acted on its own to refuse entry to a list of Russian officials associated with the Magnitsky case.

Iran confirms new virus infiltrated its computers

05/29/12: The New York Times reports the computers of high-ranking Iranian officials appear to have been penetrated by a data mining virus called Flame, in what may be the most destructive cyber attack on Iran since the notorious Stuxnet virus.  In a message posted on its Website, Iran’s Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre warned that the virus is potentially more harmful than the 2010 Stuxnet virus, which destroyed several centrifuges used for Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.  In contrast to Stuxnet, the newly identified virus is designed not to do damage but to secretly collect information from a wide variety of sources.

Commentary: Please stop calling every cyber-incident an attack

05/29/12: The blog Homeland Security Watch has this post today from Arnold Bogis arguing that, in essence, we need new language to describe incidents of cybercrime besides calling everything a “cyber attack.”  The word “attack,” he points out, connotes a physical assault, but many cybercrimes are far better described as theft, espionage, or even pranks.  Bogis draws this analogy: while the victim of a surreptitious pickpocket might certainly feel ‘assaulted,’ and his or her personal security degraded, the police, if they caught the thief, wouldn’t charge him with assault.  Likewise, while cybercrimes are certainly serious, not all of them are “attacks.”  If we’re going to create efficient cybersecurity, we have to have proper language to describe the threats we’re facing.

Violence flares after Egypt election results

05/29/12: The Miami Herald reports a mob set fire late Monday to the campaign headquarters of one of the two Egyptian presidential politicians facing each other in a runoff that will decide a new leader after last year's popular uprising, the first sign of unrest after the voting yielded divisive candidates.  The attack on Ahmed Shafiq's office came just hours after the country's election commission announced that he would face the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate, Mohammed Morsi, in a June 16-17 runoff.  The second round pitting Shafiq, who was ousted President Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister, against Morsi, backed by the country's most powerful Islamist movement, is a nightmare scenario for the thousands of Egyptians who took to the streets last year to demand regime change, freedom and social equality.

Al-Qaeda affiliate and Turaeg rebels merge, create breakaway state in Mali

05/29/12: The Long War Journal reports the secular rebel group of Saharan Tuareg tribesmen known as the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) has agreed to merge with the al-Qaeda-supported Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith) Islamist rebel group.  The new entity has declared the creation of an autonomous state in northern Mali, the Islamic Republic of Azawad.  After the signing of the accord on May 26, "Colonel" Bouna Ag Attayoub, an MNLA commander in Timbuktu, said that "[t]he Islamic Republic of Azawad is now an independent sovereign state."  The declaration of the breakaway state and the merger of the secular Tuareg rebel movement with the al Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine have deepened the ongoing political and security crisis facing Mali since a coup shook the central government on March 22.

Syria: Diplomatic deadlock, deaths go on

05/29/12: CNN reports horrific images of dozens of mutilated children's corpses in the village of Houla prompted a rare moment of unity on Sunday from the United Nations Security Council.  Even Russia, the staunchest defender of the Syrian regime on the council, signed on to a statement that condemned the Syrian government for its "outrageous use of force against [the] civilian population."  But few Middle East watchers predict the atrocities in Houla will break the diplomatic deadlock that has cemented itself around Syria for the last fifteen months.  "Nobody can see these images and not react," said Rami Khouri, a veteran analyst of the Arab world who lectures at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon.  "The problem is no one has figured out an effective way to get involved and bring this conflict to an end."

Coalition kills al-Qaeda's Afghanistan second-in-command

05/29/12: The Long War Journal reports al-Qaeda's second in command for Afghanistan was killed in Sunday's airstrike in the northeastern Afghan province of Kunar.  Sakhr al-Taifi, a Saudi al-Qaeda leader who was also known as Musthaq and Nasim, and another unnamed al-Qaeda fighter were killed in the May 28 airstrike in the Watahpur district Kunar, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) stated in a press release.  ISAF had initially said yesterday that it targeted an al-Qaeda leader and killed two "insurgents" in the strike.  Al-Taifi was the terror group's "second highest leader in Afghanistan, responsible for commanding foreign insurgents, in addition to directing attacks against Coalition and Afghan forces," ISAF said.

UN: Most Houla victims were 'summarily executed'

05/29/12: BBC News reports most of the 108 people killed in Syria's Houla region on Friday were summarily executed, according to the United Nations.  A spokesman for the UN's human rights office says witnesses told investigators that pro-regime militias carried out most of the killings.  Survivors have described gunmen entering homes, firing indiscriminately and slitting the throats of children.  The UN statement came as UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.  Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told journalists in Geneva that initial investigations suggested that fewer than twenty of the victims in the village of Taldou, near Houla, were killed by artillery or tank fire.  He said forty-nine children and thirty-four women were among the victims.

US denies North Korea commando operation

05/29/12: The Washington Post reports the US military on Tuesday denied a report that it has been sending commandos into North Korea to spy on underground military facilities, a mission that would violate the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War.  A US military statement said an Asia-Pacific current affairs journal “taken great liberal license” with the comments attributed to a top US general.  The journal reported that Brigadier General Neil H. Tolley, commander of special operations for United States Forces Korea, said at a conference last week that both US and South Korean commandos parachute into the North to conduct reconnaissance on underground tunnels that are hidden from satellites.  “Quotes have been made up and attributed to [General Tolley],” the US statement said. “No US or [South Korean] forces have parachuted into North Korea.”

Secret 'kill list' proves a test of Obama's principles and will

05/29/12: The New York Times has a lengthy piece this morning discussing the Obama Administration’s counterterrorism policy, focusing especially on the President’s policy to personally oversee and decide who the US will target in its war against al-Qaeda. Obama has placed himself at the helm of a top secret “nominations” process to designate terrorists for kill or capture, of which the capture part has become largely theoretical. He had vowed to align the fight against al-Qaeda with American values; the chart, introducing people whose deaths he might soon be asked to order, underscored just what a moral and legal conundrum this could be. When a rare opportunity for a drone strike at a top terrorist arises — but his family is with him — it is the president who has reserved to himself the final moral calculation.

Researchers discover massive cyber-attack "Flame"

05/28/12: BBC News reports a complex targeted cyber-attack that collected private data from countries such as Israel and Iran has been uncovered. Russian security firm Kaspersky Labs said they believed the malware, known as Flame, had been operating since August 2010. The company said it believed the attack was state-sponsored, but could not be sure of its exact origins. They described Flame as "one of the most complex threats ever discovered". This new threat appears not to cause physical damage, but to collect huge amounts of sensitive information, said Kaspersky's chief malware expert. More than 600 specific targets were hit, ranging from individuals, businesses, academic institutions and government systems.

At West Point, asking if a war doctrine was worth it

05/28/12: The New York Times features a piece discussing the debate among the faculty of West Point as to whether counterinsurgency is a viable military strategy.  Narrowly, the argument is whether the strategy used in Iraq and Afghanistan — the troop-heavy, time-intensive, expensive doctrine of trying to win over the locals by building roads, schools and government — is dead.  Broadly, the question is what the United States gained after a decade in two wars.  The debate at West Point mirrors one under way in the armed forces as a whole as the United States withdraws without clear victory from Afghanistan and as the results in Iraq remain ambiguous at best.

Bangladesh war crimes tribunal indicts Islamic party leaders

05/28/12: JURIST reports special war crimes tribunals of the government of Bangladesh on Monday indicted the chief of the country’s largest Islamic party, along with his deputy, for alleged human rights atrocities committed during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War against Pakistan.  Matiur Rahman Nizami, the chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party, was indicted on sixteen counts, including genocide, by the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh (ICTB).  His deputy, Abdul Quader Molla, was also indicted by a separate arm of the tribunal for alleged war crimes.  Nizami's trial is set to begin on July, while Molla's trial is set to start on June 20. Both men face a possible death sentence if convicted.

Panetta: looming cuts would be "disastrous"

5/28/12: The Washington Times reports Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said Sunday that more than $500 billion in defense-related cuts scheduled to kick in early next year would be “disastrous” to national security and begged lawmakers to restore the money. The cuts were included in last summer’s debt and budget deal that Republicans demanded to allow the White House to raise the debt ceiling. Since then, members of Congress from both parties have pushed to undo the Pentagon’s portion of the $1.2 trillion “sequestration” budget cuts that also target nondefense domestic programs. However, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has taken a hard line on keeping the automatic cuts in place, saying last week that he wouldn’t accept Republican attempts to do away with them.

Iran-linked assassination plots target US officials

05/28/12: The Washington Post reports on a series of assassination plots against US and other officials which are now believed to have originated at the behest of the government of Iran.  US and Middle Eastern officials describe a broader campaign by Iran-linked operatives to kill foreign diplomats in at least seven countries over a span of 13 months. The targets have included two Saudi officials, a half-dozen Israelis and — in a case involving the US embassy in Azerbaijan — several Americans.  In recent weeks, investigators working in four countries have amassed new evidence tying the disparate assassination attempts to one another and linking all of them to either Iran-backed Hezbollah militants or operatives based inside Iran.

US wades deeper into counterterrorism fight in Yemen and East Africa

05/28/12: The Hill reports a congressionally approved $75 million cash influx for American-led counterterrorism operations in Yemen and East Africa is the latest sign of a quietly escalating war against terrorist factions in the region.  The money was part of the $631 billion defense budget bill approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.  Those funds will finance DOD efforts to support ongoing counterterrorism offensives against al-Qaeda's terror cells in Yemen and East Africa, according to the legislation.  The Yemen cell, known as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), is known as one of the most active and dangerous al Qaeda factions operating today.  Al Shabab, the East African faction of al-Qaeda, has been carrying out terrorist attacks against African Union forces in and around Somalia since the 1990's.

Turkey charges Israeli military members over Gaza flotilla raid

05/28/12: The Miami Herald reports a Turkish court on Monday formally announced charges against members of Israel's military for the killing of nine people aboard a Turkish ship trying to break Israel's blockade of Gaza in 2010.  The court in Istanbul voted unanimously to approve an indictment against Israel's former military chief Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, along with the heads of its navy, air force and military intelligence, Turkey’s state-run news agency said.  They face nine consecutive life terms in prison for "inciting to kill monstrously, and by torturing.”  If they are convicted in absentia at the end of the trial process, which could take months if not years, the court could issue an order for their arrest, but such a move would be symbolic and not binding.  Israeli officials had no immediate comment.

Commentary: What was Dr. Afridi convicted of?

05/28/12: Two of our favorite blogs are engaged in a provocative debate about the 33-year sentence a Pakistani court recently imposed on Dr. Shakil Afridi for his role in helping the United States find and kill Osama bin Laden.  At Opinio Juris, Kevin Jon Heller argues that the impetus for Afridi’s prosecution was his role in creating a “fake vaccination program” rather than the fact that he provided useful intelligence to the CIA in tracking bin Laden.  Benjamin Wittes at Lawfare counters that, strictly as a matter of law, Dr. Afridi was convicted of crimes relating to treason and invading the sovereignty of Pakistan, giving no evidence Afridi was tried for anything but helping the CIA.  Heller fires back that the question is about the actual impetus for this prosecution rather than the niceties of Pakistani law.

NATO disputes report of Afghan civilian casualties in airstrike

05/28/12: The Washington Times reports the US-led coalition on Sunday disputed reports (see below) that eight civilians, including children, were killed in a NATO airstrike in a remote part of eastern Afghanistan.  Afghan officials said an airstrike Saturday night killed eight members of a family, but a senior NATO official said that so far there is no evidence of any civilian casualties.  The killing of civilians by foreign forces has been a major irritant in Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s relationship with his international partners.  He warned earlier this month that civilian casualties could undermine a strategic partnership with the US that is to govern long-term relations after most international troops withdraw by the end of 2014.

Obama's counterterrorism self-correction

05/28/12: The New York Times has this piece synthesizing and analyzing President Obama’s counterterrorism policy as it compares and contrasts with that of his predecessor.  As a candidate, Obama, a former professor of constitutional law, promised to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as well as to end the indefinite detention and the rendition of terrorism suspects to other countries, where they often were tortured.  He also vowed greater accountability and transparency in the conduct of war.  Things look different today.  There was a celebrated confrontation between Rahm Emanuel, then the White House chief of staff, who argued that these controversial promises were impeding Obama’s economic agenda, and Gregory B. Craig, then the White House counsel, who made the civil liberties and campaign commitment case for change.  Emanuel won; Craig later resigned.

8 civilians killed in NATO strike in Afghanistan

05/27/12: The Miami Herald reports Afghan and US-led coalition officials are investigating claims that eight civilians – including six children – were killed when their home in the eastern province of Paktia was bombed on Saturday by a coalition aircraft.  There were no survivors in the attack, which took place around 8 PM in Gerda Serai district, completely destroying the house of a local man.  “The head of the family, Mohammad Shafi, his wife and six children were all killed,” said Rohullah Samoon, a spokesman for Paktia’s governor.  Samoon added that Shafi “is not on the black list of our security forces.… That means he was neither al-Qaeda nor Taliban.”  He said that the coalition didn't contact Afghan security forces in the area before carrying out the strike.

Taliban denies responsibility for poison attack on girls' schools

05/27/12: BBC News reports the Taliban has denied carrying out poison attacks on girls' schools in Afghanistan.  A spokesman said the Afghan Taliban condemned any such attack and would punish anyone who carried them out "in line with Sharia [law]."  Militants who oppose the education of girls have been blamed for a string of suspected poisonings in Afghanistan.  In the latest incident, about forty schoolgirls in Takhar province were taken to the hospital complaining of nausea and dizziness.  A day earlier, more than a hundred girls from the same school suffered similar symptoms.  Police said poisonous chemicals may have been sprayed in the classrooms.  The Taliban banned the education of girls during their rule in Afghanistan from 1996 through 2001.

US seeks Russia's help in removing Assad in Syria

05/27/12: The New York Times reports President Obama will push for the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a new effort to halt more than a year of bloodshed in Syria under a proposal modeled on the transition in another strife-torn Arab country, Yemen.  The plan calls for a negotiated political settlement that would satisfy Syrian opposition groups but that could leave remnants of Assad’s government in place.  Its goal is the kind of transition under way in Yemen, where after months of violent unrest, President Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to step down and hand control to his vice president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, in a deal arranged by Yemen’s Arab neighbors.  The success of the plan hinges on Russia, one of Assad’s staunchest allies, which has strongly opposed his removal.