Law Commons^™

'Are We Doing The Right Thing?' Utilising Security Governance To Reform The Us Drone Program, Jane Minson

Theses

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, for counterterrorism purposes by the United States within its targeted killing program has been deeply controversial. Used in each presidential administration since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, drones have sparked debate, in part due to their contribution to civilian deaths; their killing of high-value terrorist targets including, on at least one occasion, a US citizen; and the heightened secrecy that has surrounded the program with little formal oversight and, as such, little accountability. This thesis uses this contextual framework – with a particular focus on the administration of President Barack …

From Protecting Lives To Protecting States: Use Of Force Across The Threat Continuum, Milton C. Regan

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The increasing prominence in recent years of non-international armed conflicts that extend across state borders has strained the traditional legal categories that we use to regulate state use of force. Simultaneous with this phenomenon has been growing acceptance that human rights law and international humanitarian law should co-exist, with the former informing interpretations of the latter to varying degrees. Scholars continue to debate vigorously the implications of these developments and how these bodies of law should interact. As Kenneth Watkin’s book Fighting at the Legal Boundaries: Controlling the Use of Force in Contemporary Conflict observes, however, commanders have no choice …

The Theory And Practice At The Intersection Between Human Rights And Humanitarian Law, Monica Hakimi

Reviews

The United States is more than fifteen years into a fight against terrorism that shows no sign of abating and, with the change in administration, appears to be intensifying. Other Western democracies that have historically been uneasy about U.S. counterterrorism policies have, in recent years, shifted toward those policies. And armed nonstate groups continue to commit large-scale acts of violence in multiple distinct theaters. The legal issues that these situations present are not entirely new, but neither are they going away. Recent publications, like the three works under review, thus provide useful opportunities to reflect on and refine our thinking …

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles In Counterterrorism Efforts And Implications For International Humanitarian Law, Kunle Adebamiji Olulowo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The United States increasingly has resorted to the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for targeted killings of terrorists as a counterterrorism strategy. More states and terrorist organizations also are acquiring UAVs and this development can lead to indiscriminate and unregulated use of UAVs. Previous researchers have indicated the surveillance ability and precise weapon delivery capacity of UAVs make them a weapon of choice for U.S. counterterrorism efforts. Although the U.S. government estimated the collateral damage involved in the use of UAVs at 3-5%, nongovernmental sources put it at 25-40%. A gap exists in the current literature regarding public perception …

Security Council Resolution 2178 (2014): An Ineffective Response To The Foreign Terrorist Fighter Phenomenon, Cory Kopitzke

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Thousands of foreign terrorist fighters poured into the Middle East from almost every country across the globe. Radicalized by professionally edited videos and propaganda disseminated through the Internet, people from all walks of life were captivated by the Islamic State's rhetoric, and nations were struggling to figure out how to stop them. One solution came in the form of a United Nations Security Council Resolution- Resolution 2178 (2014). This resolution is directed specifically at foreign terrorist fighters and calls upon all Member States to act with haste to address this new phenomenon. Critics were quick to call into question the …

Contemporary Practice Of The United States Relating To International Law, Kristina Daugirdas, Julian Davis Mortenson

Articles

In this section: • Iran and United States Continue to Implement Nuclear Deal, Although Disputes Persist • United States Continues to Challenge Chinese Claims in South China Sea; Law of the Sea Tribunal Issues Award Against China in Philippines-China Arbitration • U.S. Navy Report Concludes That Iran’s 2015 Capture of U.S. Sailors Violated International Law • United States Justifies Its Use of Force in Libya Under International and National Law • U.S. Drone Strike Kills Taliban Leader in Pakistan • U.S. Government Releases Casualty Report, Executive Order, and Presidential Policy Guidance Related to Its Counterterrorism Strike Practices • The Department …

The Third World, International Law, And The "Post-9/11 Era": An Introduction, Obiora Chinedu Okafor

Obiora Chinedu Okafor

No abstract provided.

Non-State Armed Groups And The Role Of Transnational Criminal Law During Armed Conflict, Christopher L. Blakesley, Dan E. Stigall

Scholarly Works

With the ascendance of the terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the international community has struggled to adapt to the new international security context. Among the challenges that are currently being confronted are questions relating to how states may effectively facilitate international cooperation to counter ISIS (especially among countries in the Middle East and North Africa). Within this context, guidance from the United Nations on international cooperation posits that “[t]he universal counter-terrorism conventions and protocols do not apply in situations of armed conflict” – a legal position that would serve to stymie important cooperative …

Defining The Battlefield In Contemporary Conflict And Counterterrorism: Understanding The Parameters Of The Zone Of Combat, Laurie R. Blank

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Identifying The Enemy In Counterterrorism Operations: A Comparison Of The Bush And Obama Administrations, Boaz Ganor

International Law Studies

Identifying the enemy plays a crucial role in providing the government with the authority needed to fight terrorism—from the authority to investigate threats to the authority to detain and use lethal force. The two administrations significantly differ in their understanding of the enemy, both at the organizational and individual levels. They also differ in their understanding of the boundaries of the battlefield. Ultimately, contrasting the policies adopted by the Bush and Obama administrations reveals that the early identification of the enemy by decision makers shaped the nature and scope of each administration’s counterterrorism strategies.

A Reflection On Innovations In The Security Council: The International Tribunals, Counterterrorism, And The Office Of The Ombudsperson, Hon. Kimberly Prost

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Unexpected Insights Into Terrorism And National Security Law Through Children’S Literature: Reading The Butter Battle Book As Monstrosity, Nick J. Sciullo

Nick J. Sciullo

Legal knowledge often comes from unexpected encounters with legal theory. In this Essay, I critically analyze Dr. Seuss’s The Butter Battle Book as a source of international legal knowledge. Although this text was originally written as a criticism of the Cold War, I find modern parallels to the evolution of terrorism and national security law theorizing in the United States. As a result of this investigation, I provide a unique window onto civil society, and our continued fascination with the specter of terrorism.

The Role Of Counterterrorism Law In Shaping Ad Bellum Norms For Cyber Warfare, William Banks

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

The Law Of Armed Conflict, The Use Of Military Force, And The 2001 Authorization For Use Of Military Force : Hearing Before The S. Committee On Armed Services, 113th Cong., May 16, 2013 (Statement By Professor Rosa Brooks, Geo. U. L. Center), Rosa Brooks

Testimony Before Congress

Mr. Chairman, almost twelve years have gone by since the passage of the AUMF on September 14, 2001. The war in Afghanistan–-the longest war in U.S. history--has begun to wind down. But at the same time, a far more shadowy war has quietly accelerated.

Self-Defence In An Age Of Terrorism: Introductory Remarks, Mark A. Drumbl

Mark A. Drumbl

None available.

'Lesser Evils' In The War On Terrorism, Mark A. Drumbl

Mark A. Drumbl

No abstract provided.

Victimhood In Our Neighborhood: Terrorist Crime, Taliban Guilt, And The Asymmetries Of The International Legal Order, Mark A. Drumbl

Mark A. Drumbl

This Article posits that the September 11 attacks constitute nonisolated warlike attacks undertaken against a sovereign state by individuals from other states operating through a non-state actor with some command and political structure. This means that the attacks contain elements common to both armed attacks and criminal attacks. The international community largely has characterized the attacks as armed attacks. This characterization evokes a legal basis for the use of force initiated by the United States and United Kingdom against Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. Notwithstanding the successes of the military campaign and the need for containment of terrorist activity, this …

Lessons For International Law From The Arab Spring, Rosa Brooks

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Not all that begins in hope ends in happiness. In Egypt, the exuberance of Tahrir Square has given way to frustration over the resilience of the security state; in Libya, the anti-Qaddafi movement has fractured along tribal and factional lines; in Syria, as of this writing, calls for reform continue to be met with gunfire from government forces. Throughout the Middle East—from Egypt, Libya and Syria to Yemen, Tunisia, Bahrain and elsewhere—the heady excitement of 2010 has given way to a more sober awareness that enduring political change may take years, if not generations. The Arab Spring brought both progress …

Self-Defense Targeting: Blurring The Line Between The Jus Ad Bellum And The Jus In Bello, Geoffrey S. Corn

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

Be Careful What You Wish For: Changing Doctrines, Changing Technologies And The Lower Cost Of War, Rosa Brooks

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The collective security structure created by the U.N. Charter is becoming shakier than ever, and two recent trends pose particular challenges to Charter rules on the use of force. The first trend involves a normative shift in understandings of state sovereignty, and the second trend involves improvements in technology--specifically, the rapid evolution of unmanned aerial vehicles, precision weapons, and surveillance technologies. Each trend on its own raises difficult issues. Together, they further call into question international law’s ability to meaningfully constrain the use of force by states.

Efficiency In Bello And Ad Bellum: Making The Use Of Force Too Easy?, Kenneth Anderson

Contributions to Books

This article criticizes a widely asserted claim that drones make the resort to force and violence — war — “too easy.” Attractive on the surface to many, this article says that “too easy” is not a coherent notion as applied in war. The “too easy” argument comes in two forms, a moral argument and a maximization of social welfare argument. The maximization of social welfare version (on which the article focuses) frames “too easy” as a matter of creating an “inefficient” level of disincentive to use of force on account of insufficient risks to one’s own forces in so doing …

The Consequences Of A "War" Paradigm For Counterterrorism: What Impact On Basic Rights And Values?, Laurie R. Blank

Georgia Law Review

Policy makers have used the rhetoric of "war"
throughout the past century to describe a major
governmental or societal effort to combat an evil that
threatens society, national security or other communal

good. It is both a rhetorical tool and a resource
mobilization, and above all a coalescing of authority to
meet the challenge, whether poverty, drugs or-most
recently-terrorism. Soon after 9/11 made al Qaeda a
household word, the Bush Administration characterized
U.S. efforts to defeat al Qaeda as the "War on Terror."
Here, however, the terminology of "war" goes far beyond
rhetoric, resource re-allocation and centralizing of
authority. When …

Where Liberty Lies: Civil Society And Individual Rights After 9/11, David Cole

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Had someone told you, on September 11, 2001, that the United States would not be able to do whatever it wanted in response to the terrorist attacks of that day, you might well have questioned their sanity. The United States was the most powerful country in the world, and had the world’s sympathy in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. Who would stop it? Al Qaeda had few friends beyond the Taliban. As a historical matter, Congress and the courts had virtually always deferred to the executive in such times of crisis. And the American polity was unlikely to object …

Terrorism Financing Indicators For Financial Institutions In The United States, Richard Gordon

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

On The Language Of (Counter)Terrorism And The Legal Geography Of Terror, Nick J. Sciullo

Nick J. Sciullo

In this paper, I will discuss the difficulties in defining a place for the global war on terror and the implications this lack of terrestrial bounds has for the law. I will then discuss the way language impacts not only the idea of terrorism, but also the politics of place. On our journey will be philosophers Martin Heidegger and Jacques Derrida, discussed extensively below, who help flesh out the important politics of language and place. Ultimately, I will urge for a deconstructive approach to the global war on terror, which I hope will encourage a more thoughtful consideration of the …

Who May Be Held? Military Detention Through The Habeas Lens, Robert M. Chesney

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

A Permanent Hybrid Court For Terrorism, Erin Creegan

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Poverty, Islamist Extremism, And The Debacle Of Doha Round Counter-Terrorism: Part Two Of A Trilogy - Non-Agricultural Market Access And Services Trade, Raj Bhala

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Understanding When And How Domestic Courts Apply Ihl, Laurie R. Blank

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Privacy And Counter-Terrorism: The Pervasiveness Of Data, Paul Rosenzweig

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.