Who, If Anyone, Should Have a License to Kill AI?
Lawmakers want AI kill switches, but who pulls the trigger, what it shuts off, and when it’s justified remain dangerously unclear.
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Trump’s Golf Course: A Hearing Diary for Oct. 19
A live-blog of an evidentiary hearing before Judge Reyes relating to the redesign of a historic municipal golf course.
Will the Supreme Court Finally Dismantle Bivens’s House of Cards?
For the sake of federal accountability, these Justice Department alums certainly hope so.
The EU AI Act Mandates AI Incident Reporting—If We’re Lucky
How the OpenAI-Hugging Face incident was reportable under the EU AI Act, but future incidents may not be.
Proposed Rules for the Use of Force at or Near Election Sites
Placing troops at the polls is illegal, but steps can be taken to secure the spirit of the law if not the letter.
Russia's Digital Detox Boomerang
The latest edition of the Seriously Risky Business cybersecurity newsletter, now on Lawfare.
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Who, If Anyone, Should Have a License to Kill AI?
Lawmakers want AI kill switches, but who pulls the trigger, what it shuts off, and when it’s justified remain dangerously unclear. -
Trump’s Golf Course: A Hearing Diary for Oct. 19
A live-blog of an evidentiary hearing before Judge Reyes relating to the redesign of a historic municipal golf course. -
Will the Supreme Court Finally Dismantle Bivens’s House of Cards?
For the sake of federal accountability, these Justice Department alums certainly hope so. -
The EU AI Act Mandates AI Incident Reporting—If We’re Lucky
How the OpenAI-Hugging Face incident was reportable under the EU AI Act, but future incidents may not be. -
Proposed Rules for the Use of Force at or Near Election Sites
Placing troops at the polls is illegal, but steps can be taken to secure the spirit of the law if not the letter. -
The Rising Islamic State Threat to Europe and the West
The Islamic State’s North African affiliate is building a logistical corridor from the Sahel to Spain. -
The Week That Was
Your weekly summary of everything on the site. -
Russia's Digital Detox Boomerang
The latest edition of the Seriously Risky Business cybersecurity newsletter, now on Lawfare. -
Gaps in the Deep: How the Law of the Sea Fails the Undersea Kingdom
A review of Elisabeth Braw, “Undersea War: The Battle to Control the Cables and Pipelines That Connect Our World” (Public Affairs, 2026). -
Dissecting Trump’s Deal for Russian Diesel
There is more smoke than fire to the deal—except when it comes to Ukraine. -
Why Anthropic Is Asking for a Rehearing En Banc
The D.C. Circuit relied on a dictionary for key parts of its ruling against Anthropic. Congress’s own words tell a different story about the threats the law was designed to address. -
America Didn’t Lose Its Rare Earth Industry. It Sold It.
Markets price for cost. China prices for control. The risk of a rare earths cutoff is asymmetric, and the financing to rebuild American supply should be too. -
The Russian Bots Went Silent. Or Did They?
Did Ukrainian strikes on Yandex silence Russian bots? The evidence doesn’t show it, and shrinking data access makes it harder to check. -
The Mercenary Exception That Never Existed
Why Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice ruling in Operation Trapiche matters beyond one terrorism case. -
The Many Open Questions About the Trump Administration’s New De Facto AI Model Licensing System
The Trump administration’s AI framework not yet been publicly released. This has left many open questions, including about which models it covers, who has access to the framework, and whether it preclude...
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What's Old Is New Again
With every new administration comes new promises and new actions on national security. But what’s “new” has often been proposed or even tried before—which means there’s a good chance Lawfare has already analyzed some of the legal and policy implications they present. So we’re making that past content readily accessible as it becomes newly relevant.
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The Trump Admin’s Embrace of Ideological Exclusion and Deportation
The targets, rhetoric, and legal justifications of ideological exclusion and deportation may change over time, but the motivation—suppressing dissent—remains the same. -
What to Make of the Justice Department’s Denaturalization Initiative
The policy will terrify some naturalized citizens without cause and may dissuade others from naturalizing or coming to the United States in the first place. -
National Security AI and the Hurdles to International Regulation
Small-group cooperation and unilateral efforts to develop settled expectations around the use of national security AI are far more likely than an international regime analogous to nuclear arms control.
Documents
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White House Releases Executive Order Declaring a National Emergency Regarding the Electrical Grid
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White House Releases National Security Science & Technology Strategy
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Justice Department Releases Opinion on Military Arrests Near Borders
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White House Releases Executive Orders on Quantum Computing
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White House Releases Executive Order on AI
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Former Cuban President Raúl Castro Indicted
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Trump Administration Releases 2026 Counterterrorism Strategy
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Southern Poverty Law Center Indicted on Federal Fraud Charges
The Lawfare Podcast 
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Lawfare Daily: The Coming Winter and the Latest Betrayal of Ukraine
Discussing the reported breaks in intelligence sharing and in Ukrainian access to Starlink. -
Lawfare Daily: The Trials of the Trump Administration, October 16
Listen to the October 16 livestream as a podcast. -
Lawfare Daily: The New Command Economy with Kristen Eichensehr and Ashley Deeks
Discussing the U.S. government's increasingly activist role in the economy.
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Lawfare Live: The Trials of the Trump Administration, Oct 16
Join the Lawfare team at 4 pm ET for a discussion of the litigation surrounding the Trump administration.
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