Today's Headlines and Commentary

Yesterday evening, the NYPD announced that it would shutter the Demographics Unit, the controversial program that sent plainclothes detectives to collect information about Muslim communities in the New York City area. The program has been largely inactive since the NYPD's new police commissioner, Bill Bratton, took over in January. Speaking of shuttering the unpopular, Abu Ghraib is no more and its 2,400 prisoners have been relocated. Unrest in Eastern Ukraine continues. The Ukrainian military (very cautiously) launched an offensive against pro-Russian militants yesterday, but met some resistance when separatists in Kramatorsk seized Ukrainian army vehicles, report the Wall Street Journal and BBC. In Donetsk, Ukrainian troops defected to the side of the separatists, who seized the city hall, the Washington Post tells us. NATO announced that it would increase military support and personnel to Ukraine in response to Russia's actions in the country---and EU defense ministers said they would increase cooperation with NATO. Gen. Wesley K. Clark and Philip A. Karber, a former NATO commander and a former Pentagon official, respectively, believe that nonlethal military assistance is key to supporting the Ukrainian military. Talks in Geneva begin tomorrow between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Ukraine's acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia, Secretary of State John Kerry, and EU Foreign Policy head Catherine Ashton. The New York Times editorial board argues that the Americans and Europeans must be "prepared to be touch with Russia" at the talks. The State Department's spokeswoman Jen Psaki says the United States is debating more sanctions against Russia. Wonder if she knew how Senator John McCain felt about that. In other news, a NATO airstrike in Afghanistan killed a woman and two children yesterday. The Journal reports that the Australian and New Zealand governments have confirmed that two of their citizens were killed in Yemen in a counterterrorism operation in November 2013. Al Qaeda released a video showing an outdoor meeting of militants in Yemen led by Nasser al-Wuhayshi, Al Qaeda's second-in-command, and the head of AQAP. DNI James Clapper delivered the keynote address at the world's biggest intelligence conference, GEOINT 2013, at which he announced his recommendation to the White House that it approve significantly higher resolution imagery for commercial spy satellites. Watch his full speech here. Conor Friedersdorf of the Atlantic hated Ben's post yesterday dinging the Pulitzer Prize winners. The Times reports on the kerfuffle over denying the Iranian ambassador to the U.N. an American visa. The piece quotes John's Lawfare post from Sunday. Some schmuck named Kevin Edson dropped a backpack containing a rice cooker filled with confetti near the finish line yesterday; he will "appear in court Wednesday and will face charges of purporting a hoax and disturbing the peace." The Christian Science Monitor has more. Thomas Joscelyn writes about the lingering questions surrounding the Boston Marathon bombers in the Daily Beast. Josh Levs of CNN covered the memorial ceremony of the bombing in Boston, at which Vice President Joe Biden spoke. President Obama issued this statement on the anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing, and Secretary of State John Kerry issued this one.  Email the Roundup Team noteworthy law and security-related articles to include, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for additional commentary on these issues. Sign up to receive Lawfare in your inbox. Visit our Events Calendar to learn about upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings on our Job Board.