Georgetown Security Law Brief

Defense budget plan would cut spending by half a trillion

01/27/12: The Los Angeles Times reports that the Pentagon has released a budget blueprint that cuts projected military spending by nearly half a trillion dollars, yet still calls for increasing the base defense budget in all but one of the next five years. The proposal meets both goals because spending on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is dropping sharply, allowing the base budget — the annual cost of paying troops and buying planes, ships and tanks — to increase modestly, even while complying with last year's bipartisan deal in Congress to reduce the deficit.

Mullahs, militants and military – Pakistan’s shadowy coalition

01/24/12: The Financial Times reports that Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, whose commandoes killed 166 people in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is – to outside eyes – the public face of the nexus between spies and jihadists that makes nuclear-armed Pakistan so dangerous. Now, he is back. For years confined to his power base in the eastern Punjab province, Mr. Saeed is on the march – criss-crossing the country with a radical road show starring sectarian hate groups, Islamist parties and hawkish ex-generals. They call themselves the Pakistan Defence Council.

Israelis arrest two Hamas officials at Jerusalem’s Red Cross office

01/23/12: The Los Angeles Times reports that Israeli police on Monday arrested two Hamas officials who had been holed up in the Red Cross office in Jerusalem for the last 18 months. About two dozen police officers jumped over the back wall of the building and grabbed the two officials without any resistance, authorities said. The two officials -– Muhammad Totah, a member of the Palestinian Authority parliament, and Khaled abu Arafeh, a former Cabinet minister -– took refuge at the Red Cross building after it became evident that Israel was going to expel them from Jerusalem, their place of residence, to the West Bank.

Maldives asks for UN help to resolve a “judicial crisis”

01/23/12: ABC News reports that the Maldives has asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to send a group of international jurists to resolve what it calls a judicial system failure that has resulted in the military's detention of a senior judge. President Mohamed Nasheed's government is under heavy pressure. Street protests have broken out in the capital Male following last week's arrest of Criminal Court Chief Justice Abdulla Mohamed after he ordered the release of a government critic.

Political leader of Hamas does not plan to seek re-election

01/22/12: The New York Times reports that the Palestinian militant group Hamas announced Saturday that its political leader, Khaled Meshal, would not seek re-election, opening the door to a possible leadership contest and adding to the uncertainty enveloping Hamas at a time of regional turmoil. Mr. Meshal, who has led the group’s political bureau since 1996 and is the face of Hamas’s leadership, told the Shura Council, the group’s highest decision-making authority, that he preferred not to run in elections scheduled in the coming months.

Yemeni President Saleh granted immunity

01/21/12: CNN reports that Yemen's parliament approved a controversial law Saturday that ensures President Ali Abdullah Saleh complete immunity from prosecution. The law was delayed for weeks as Saleh insisted on specific changes guaranteeing his aides partial protection from legal actions. In return, Saleh will step down from power in Yemen next month after ruling the country for more than 33 years. Yemeni Information Minister Ali al-Amrani said the law was the best option for the country and that people can now look forward for change and development.

Iraq's Maliki accused of detaining hundreds of political opponents

01/20/12: The Charlotte Observer reports that Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's security services have locked up more than 1,000 members of other political parties over the past several months, detaining many of them in secret locations with no access to legal counsel and using "brutal torture" to extract confessions, his chief political rival has charged. Ayad Allawi, the secular Shiite Muslim leader of the mainly Sunni Muslim Iraqiya bloc in parliament, has laid out his allegations in written submissions to Iraq's supreme judicial council. Allawi, whose bloc is part of Maliki's coalition government, demanded Wednesday that the prime minister grant the detainees legal counsel and due process.

Norwegian security chief resigns after intel gaffe

01/19/12: The Palm Beach Post reports that the chief of Norway's domestic intelligence service hastily resigned from her post after disclosing classified information in an open hearing in Parliament, apparently about Norway's intelligence activities in Pakistan, officials and media reports said Thursday. Janne Kristiansen, head of Norway's PST security service, "expressed herself in a way that could be interpreted as a breach of confidentiality," Justice Minister Grete Faremo said. Norwegian media reported the classified material was mentioned in her answer to a question from a lawmaker about Norway's contacts with Pakistani security and intelligence agencies.

Defense Secretary Panetta faces tough choices on national security in 2012

01/03/12: The Washington Post reports that when it comes to national security issues in 2012, the person who faces the toughest choices is Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta. Look at what’s on his plate: the Pentagon’s budget crunch, the war in Afghanistan, the postwar period in Iraq, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Israeli issues, US-Pakistan relations, China’s growing military and the biggest challenge of all — Congress. Hovering over him like a cloud is the presidential campaign. While the economy will be central to the campaign debate, defense policies and spending will be a close second.

Congress puts spy world on money diet

12/17/11: The Boston Globe reports that Congress is putting the spy world on a diet by trimming back planned growth in staff and high-tech surveillance programs. Next year's budget stays roughly the same as this year, at just under $80 billion, and the bill doesn't cancel any programs. But the bill passed Friday nixes many planned new hires and denies extra funding requested to expand some existing big-ticket items like multibillion-dollar spy satellites. Congress left alone plans for more staff for cybersecurity and tracking terrorist finances.

Congress moves to restrict money for Egypt, Pakistan in foreign aid bill that avoids deep cuts

12/17/11: The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Congress would impose restrictions on aid to Egypt, Pakistan and the Palestinian Authority in a $53.3 billion bill that avoids the deep cuts in foreign assistance and State Department funding that Republicans had pursued this year. The legislation is part of a sweeping, $1 trillion-plus year-end spending package that provides money for 10 Cabinet agencies through September. The House passed the measure on Friday and the Senate is expected to vote sometime this weekend.

Congress clears $662 billion defense bill

12/16/11: ABC News reports that Congress passed a massive $662 billion defense bill Thursday after months of wrangling over how to handle captured terrorist suspects without violating Americans' constitutional rights. A last-minute compromise produced a truce but lawmakers said the fight's not over. The Senate voted 86-13 for the measure and will send it to President Barack Obama for his signature. The bill would authorize money for military personnel, weapons systems, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and national security programs in the Energy Department for the fiscal year beginning October 1.

House and Senate agree on Pentagon cuts

12/14/11: The Washington Post reports that House and Senate conferees agreed on $662.4 billion for the fiscal 2012 defense authorization bill, about $26.6 billion below the president’s original request, reflecting the level of reductions in national security spending required under August’s budget agreement. Almost all the cuts were made in the Pentagon’s core budget, with only $2.3 billion coming out of funds for Afghanistan and Iraq, and $1.2 billion from the nuclear weapons program.

US commander defends night raids in Afghanistan

12/12/11: ABC News reports that the US Special Operations commander who directed the operation that killed Osama bin Laden defended the unpopular night raids on homes in Afghanistan that have provoked the fury of the country's president and held up a security agreement with the United States. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called for an end to the raids, in which troops borne in by helicopter search homes, because he says the forces conducting them treat too many civilians as if they were insurgents and violate privacy in an intensely conservative society.  McRaven said in a rare interview with journalists late Saturday that the U.S. understands Afghan concerns about night raids and has allowed its partner Afghan forces to take the lead in those and other operations.

Pentagon wins $5 billion budget increase

12/10/11: The Sacramento Bee reports that Congressional negotiators have tentatively settled on a relatively small, $5 billion increase for the Pentagon's non-war budget as a mammoth spending bill takes shape behind closed doors on Capitol Hill. That's a 1 percent increase that would give the Pentagon $518 billion to cover everything except direct war spending. The measure would also cut President Barack Obama's budget request for Afghanistan's security forces, as well as the amount he sought for special vehicles that are resistant to roadside bombs.

Iran promises better protection for embassies

12/07/11: The New York Times reports that Iran’s foreign minister promised that Iranian protesters will not overrun and vandalize any more embassies in Tehran, the way they did Britain’s diplomatic facilities in Tehran last week. “This will not recur,” the foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi, said in an interview published Tuesday in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a leading German newspaper. He called the pillaging of Britain’s embassy and a residential compound on November 30 “unlawful actions.”

Opinion: Thinking outside of the cold war box

11/15/11: The Washington Post reports that further reductions in nuclear weapons beyond those agreed to in the New START agreement with Russia are being discussed within the Obama administration as part of the Defense Department review of future spending. Maybe it is time for thinking outside what is still a Cold War nuclear box, which focuses on the United States having enough secure nuclear weapons to deter some other country from using theirs against America or its allies, today or in the future.

Opinion: The torture candidates

11/15/11: The New York Times features an editorial criticizing the Republican candidates for president. The piece argues the contenders seem to have learned very little from the moral calamities of the administration of George W. Bush. Three of the contenders for the party’s nomination have now come out in favor of the torture known as waterboarding. Only two have said it is illegal, and the rest don’t seem to have the backbone to even voice an opinion on the subject.

GOP hopefuls would keep Guantanamo

11/13/11: The San Francisco Chronicle reports that several Republican presidential hopefuls say they would continue to hold terror suspects at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay. In Saturday night's debate, businessman Herman Cain, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and Minnesota's Representative Michele Bachmann all say they want to keep the prison open, allow the use of controversial techniques to interrogate terrorists and use military courts to try the terrorism suspects who are held there.

615 detained in Iraq's anti-Baathist sweep

10/30/11: The Associated Press reports that Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, said Saturday that 615 people have been detained in a security sweep targeting members of the former ruling Baath party. Arrests on this scale are likely to alarm Sunni Arabs, who consider use of the term "Baathists" by Iraq's Shiite-dominated government to be a coded way to refer to Sunni politicians, army officers, and other prominent members of their community. The arrests coincide with a recent autonomy push by a mostly-Sunni province in north-central Iraq.

Lawmakers press US officials to put Palestinians released in Israeli swap on terror list

10/29/11: The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that  a bipartisan group of lawmakers is asking FBI Director Robert Mueller and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to put Palestinians released from prison in a swap for an Israeli soldier on the terrorist watch list. In a letter this week to Mueller and Clinton, the lawmakers said the Palestinians who were convicted on various terrorism charges should not be allowed to enter the United States.

Separatists hold large rally in Spain’s Basque region

10/23/11: The San Francisco Chronicle reports that tens of thousands of Basque separatists held a rally in the region’s largest city Saturday, two days after armed militant group ETA declared it was abandoning violence. Many Basque political leaders were present at the march in Bilbao, carrying banners saying “The Basque region wants solutions,” a reference to a long espoused yearning for greater regional autonomy. Some demonstrators could be heard shouting for a return of ETA prisoners to jails in the Basque region.

Russia bans entry to unnamed US officials in response to US blacklist tied to Magnitsky death

10/22/11: The Bellingham Herald reports that Russia has banned entry to US officials allegedly involved in killings and abductions, a strong response to Washington's blacklisting of Russian officials involved in the prison death of a whistleblower, Sergei Magnitsky. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement Saturday it was blacklisting unspecified US officials it claims were involved in the abductions of alleged terrorism suspects, the torture of inmates at Guantanamo prison, the killings of civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the abductions or abuse of Russians in the United States.

Iran to gather evidence of US "crimes"

10/19/11: CBS News reports that Iran's judiciary chief claims he has assigned the country's state prosecutor to gather evidence proving US crimes in Iran and elsewhere. The statement by Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, a cleric who heads the country's judicial system, come days after the US accused Iranian government agents of plotting to kill the Saudi ambassador in the United States. In comments broadcast Wednesday on state television, Larijani says his country is planning to sue the United States for committing "crimes" against both Iranians and Americans.

Member of UK parliament quits role over 'spy' affair

10/19/11: The BBC reports that a Liberal Democrat MP who had an affair with an aide accused of being a Russian spy has resigned from his post on the defence select committee. Mike Hancock was named during the case of Katia Zatuliveter, accused of starting an affair with him because she saw him as politically influential. She denies spying and is fighting her deportation at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission.

French intelligence chief accused of spying on journalist

10/18/11: The Guardian reports that Bernard Squarcini, the head of France's secret services and a close ally of President Nicolas Sarkozy, has been put under investigation accused of spying on a journalist. Squarcini allegedly obtained the Le Monde reporter's telephone records to uncover a mole feeding the newspaper information about a political scandal. Reporter Gérard Davet's contact was an adviser in the justice ministry who was passing on information about a legal investigation into whether L'Oréal heir Liliane Bettencourt had given Sarkozy cash to fund the presidential election campaign.

State Department harassing officer who revealed Iraq waste

09/28/11: SpyTalk reports that Peter Van Buren, a veteran State Department officer whose new memoir colorfully describes his participation in the waste of millions of dollars of US reconstruction aid in Iraq, is under investigation by Foggy Bottom’s security office. Van Buren says State Department security sleuths told him that a blog he wrote about the transfer of US spare parts to Muammar Qadaffi in 2009, based on an unclassified US diplomatic cable exposed by Wikileaks, makes him a possible security risk.

Putin may restore tougher tone to relations with US

09/27/11 The Washington Post reports that when Putin, currently Russia’s prime minister, makes the very short trip back to the Kremlin next May from his current digs, he will likely bring a tougher tone to Moscow’s engagement with the Obama administration, and the next administration, and possibly the one after that. “There is a really good chance that this makes the atmosphere more frosty,” said Fiona Hill, director of the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution. “We know that Putin is more distrustful of the relationship as a natural condition than Medvedev.”

Obama faces hurdles in aiding Arab Spring countries

09/25/11: The Washington Post reports that although President Obama has vowed to support the democratic transitions in the Arab world with greater trade and investment, his effort to back up that promise has run into hurdles in Washington and the Middle East. Congress still hasn’t passed two programs Obama announced in May to help the emerging Arab democracies: economic development funds and a $1 billion debt relief package for Egypt.

Walkout at UN as Ahmadinejad speaks

09/22/11: CNN reports that delegations from the United States and several European nations walked out of the UN General Assembly Thursday during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech, in which he repeatedly condemned the United States and called the September 11, 2001, attacks a pretext for a US-led war against Afghanistan and Iraq. Delegates from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom were among those who walked out. Delegations from Canada and Israel were not present from the beginning.

Homeland security chief says disaster aid fund ‘running on fumes,’ could be empty next week

09/22/11: The Washington Post reports that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the government’s main disaster aid account is “running on fumes” and could be tapped out by early next week. Napolitano says she’s counting on Congress to provide more aid money because without the additional relief dollars, there will be delays in getting disaster projects approved. She wouldn’t say what arrangements the Federal Emergency Management Agency has made to prepare in the event the money runs out.

A Conversation with the Right Honorable Theresa May

09/19/11: The Council on Foreign Relations has released an audio interview conducted with Theresa May, the Home Secretary for the United Kingdom. In the interview, May discusses the United Kingdom's counterterrorism policy, as well its security cooperation with the United States and other international actors.

Commentary: What we still don’t know after September 11

09/18/11: The New York Review of Books features a new article by David Cole, addressing what, precisely, did and did not change after September 11, particularly with respect to law, liberty, and security. Cole discusses the response of the Bush and Obama administrations to terrorism, concluding that one of the most important lessons of the past decade may be that the rule of law has proved far more resilient than many would have predicted.

CRS examines congressional authority to limit military operations

09/15/11: Secrecy News notes that a new report from the Congressional Research Service discusses the authority of the President to use military force without congressional authorization and the ability of Congress to limit or regulate such use. At issue are the scope and priority of basic constitutional terms, including the definition of the President’s role as commander in chief, the authority of Congress to declare war, and its ability to appropriate or to withhold funds for military operations.

Lawyers for Guantánamo detainees allowed to see leaked files

06/11/11: The New York Times reports that the Justice Department has eased restrictions preventing lawyers representing prisoners at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from reading the classified files about their clients that were leaked to WikiLeaks and then made widely available on the Internet. In guidance to the lawyers — who have security clearances, and thus are required to follow government rules for the handling of classified information — the department’s court security officer said Friday that they were now permitted to view the leaked documents on the Internet. But they are still not allowed to download, save or print the documents because they might contain restricted information.

CIA director makes first visit to Pakistan since bin Laden raid sent ties plummeting

06/10/11: The Washington Post reports that CIA Director Leon Panetta met over dinner Friday with Pakistan’s spy chief and army head for talks on how to repair ties between the two countries that were fractured by the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden, a Pakistani and a US official said. Panetta’s visit was his first to Pakistan since the unilateral American operation on May 2 killed the al-Qaida leader in a Pakistani army town, triggering an angry backlash by the powerful military. It is likely to be his last before he becomes the next US defense secretary.

Gates warns of 'dismal future' for NATO without urgent changes

06/10/11: CNN reports that outgoing US Defense Secretary Robert Gates says NATO has become a "two-tiered" alliance poorly equipped to deal with challenges, and with members either unable or unwilling to carry out agreed missions in Afghanistan and Libya. In his farewell speech Friday to the NATO Council in Brussels, Gates pulled few punches in listing the shortcomings of the alliance. In particular, he drew a contrast between those members "willing and able to pay the price and bear the burdens of alliance commitments, and those who enjoy the benefits of NATO membership ... but don't want to share the risks and the costs."

US projects in war zones are unsustainable, study finds

06/03/11: The Washington Post reports that billions of dollars worth of US-funded reconstruction projects in Afghanistan and Iraq could fall into disrepair over the next few years because inadequate provisions have been made to pay for their ongoing operations and maintenance, according to a report to be released Friday by a bipartisan legislative commission. The Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan says it “sees no indication” that the Pentagon, the State Department and the US Agency for International Development are “effectively taking sustainability risks into account when devising new projects or programs.”

Measure would widen president's power to fight terrorists

05/25/11: The Los Angeles Times reports that the $690-billion defense spending bill contains a little-noticed provision that would expand the president's power to pursue suspected terrorists around the world. The new provision would no longer require that targets have a connection to September 11, instead granting the president authority to "use all necessary and appropriate force during the current armed conflict with Al Qaeda, the Taliban and associated forces."

Barack Obama agrees to form joint national security body with UK

05/22/11: The Guardian reports that the White House is to open up its highly secretive national security council to Downing Street in a move that appears to show the US still values the transatlantic "special relationship". A joint National Security Strategy Board will be established to ensure that senior officials on both sides of the Atlantic confront long-term challenges rather than just hold emergency talks from the "situation room" in the White House and the Cobra room in the Cabinet Office.

Iran dismantles US spy network; 30 arrested

05/21/11: CNN reports that Iran has arrested 30 people suspected of spying for the United States, the nation's state-run Press TV reported Saturday, citing the country's Intelligence Ministry. The ministry said in a statement that it dismantled a "sophisticated" spy network linked to the Central Intelligence Agency.

Millions cut from urban security grant program, leaving more than 30 cities without funding

05/19/11: The Washington Post reports that more than 30 smaller and mid-sized US cities are losing about $170 million in federal anti-terrorism funding that began after the September 11 attacks, perplexing some local officials at a time when information gleaned from Osama bin Laden’s hideout suggests al-Qaida is being encouraged to attack smaller targets. The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that narrowing the list of cities eligible for Urban Areas Security Initiative grants is part of larger budget cuts that eliminated more than $780 million in grant money from the last federal budget. New York, Washington and 29 other high-threat urban areas will still receive grants this year.

Obama sees 'moment of opportunity' in Middle East

05/19/11: The Los Angeles Times reports that President Obama on Thursday called out American friends in the Middle East for their treatment of peaceful protesters, naming Bahrain and Yemen along with Syria as states he said must yield to the aspirations of their people. While explicitly stating an American commitment to the security of Israel, Obama also called upon Israelis and Palestinians to swap land along the general lines of the borders that were in place before the 1967 war in the interests of achieving peace.

US quietly expanding defense ties with Saudis

05/19/11: The Miami Herald reports that despite their deepening political divide, the United States and Saudi Arabia are quietly expanding defense ties on a vast scale, led by a little-known project to develop an elite force to protect the kingdom's oil riches and future nuclear sites. The US also is in discussions with Saudi Arabia to create an air and missile defense system with far greater capability against the regional rival the Saudis fear most, Iran.

Clinton aims to improve ties with Latin America

05/19/11: The New York Times reports that as tumult rages across the Middle East, and relations with Pakistan border on a breakdown, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was scheduled Wednesday night to host a private dinner with at least six former Latin American presidents, part of a quiet campaign to repair relations with a region that complains it has been ignored by American policy makers.

Iran, Kuwait move to ease diplomatic rift

05/18/11: The Miami Herald reports that Iran's foreign minister says his nation and Kuwait's leaders have agreed to allow the return of ambassadors recalled in a dispute over an alleged Iranian spy ring. The accord is part of efforts to ease tensions after Kuwait accused Iran of masterminding an espionage ring that included surveillance of US and Kuwaiti military sites. Iran denies the claims, but they led both nations to expel diplomats in recent months and withdraw ambassadors.

Kuwait MPs in punch-up over Guantanamo inmates

05/18/11: The BBC reports that a fistfight has broken out between Shia and Sunni Muslim MPs in the Kuwaiti parliament during a session about the fate of Guantanamo detainees. MPs were discussing four Kuwaitis held in the US prison camp in Cuba when Shia member Hussein al-Kallaf dismissed the inmates as "al-Qaeda" militants. Muslim Brotherhood MP Jamaan al-Harish argued with him, and a fight broke out.

Officials: terror groups are joining crime rings

05/17/11: The Miami Herald reports that terror groups are becoming more deeply involved in international criminal networks to obtain financing for their operations, US and European officials said Tuesday. Officials from the United States and Europe are co-hosting a three-day conference in Lisbon with African and Latin American countries to improve cooperation on cross-border crime, especially trans-Atlantic drug smuggling. Delegates from more than 60 nations attended the meeting which ends Thursday.

Pakistan and NATO trade fire near Afghan border

05/17/11: The New York Times reports that Pakistani ground troops opened fire on two NATO helicopters that crossed into Pakistan's airspace from Afghanistan early Tuesday morning, the Pakistani Army said in a statement. In the firefight that followed, two Pakistani soldiers were wounded, it said. The clash provided another irritant to the already sour relationship between the United States and Pakistan in the wake of the May 2 Navy Seal raid that killed Osama bin Laden at a compound deep inside Pakistan, heightening American mistrust of Pakistan and inflaming Pakistani sensitivities over sovereignty.

Iran denies receiving missile technology, components from North Korea

05/17/11: The Washington Post reports that Iran on Tuesday denied a UN panel report saying that North Korea and Iran appear to have been regularly exchanging ballistic missiles, components and technology in violation of UN sanctions. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast argued that Iran’s own missile capabilities are so advanced that it doesn’t need outside help, and he slammed the report’s findings as “fabrications.”