Today’s Headlines and Commentary

Former Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III will testify before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees in an open hearing on Wednesday, July 17th, the Washington Post reports. Mueller agreed to testify pursuant to subpoenas issued by both committees on Tuesday evening.

President Trump threatened Iran with “obliteration” on Tuesday. Later in the day, when asked by reporters whether he has an “exit strategy” for Iran, Trump replied, "You're not going to need an exit strategy. I don't need exit strategies," according to CNN.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the “Saudi Arabia False Emergencies (SAFE) Act,” which would restrict the use of presidential emergency authorities in the Arms Export Control Act, per Reuters.

John Sanders, acting head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, resigned effective late next week, according to the Wall Street Journal. His resignation comes amid mounting criticism over the administration's treatment of detained migrant children.

The American Civil Liberties Union obtained documents through a Freedom of Information Act request showing that the NSA collected call-detail records under the auspices of Section 215 of the Patriot Act for which the agency lacked proper legal authorization in an incident in October 2018, according to a letter ACLU sent to the House Judiciary Committee.

Reuters published a report on the “Cloud Hopper” operation, with further details on the global hacking campaign by threat actors connected to the Chinese Ministry of State Security, which targeted eight major technology service providers. The U.S. and its allies publicly attributed the attacks to APT10 in December 2018, but much of the information on the hacking and its effects was not public. Among the victims of the operation were Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, NTT Data, IBM and Ericsson.

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Geoffrey S. Corn explored whether the U.S. was right to cite self-defense in justifying a strike against Iran following the shootdown of a U.S. drone.

Justin Sherman and Robert Morgus analyzed the mixed U.S. messaging campaign on Huawei.

Robert Loeb discussed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s ruling in Qassim v. Trump.

Vishnu Kannan shared a livestream of a House Homeland Security Committee hearing titled, “Artificial Intelligence and Counterterrorism: Possibilities and Limitations.”

Stewart Baker shared the most recent episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast, featuring an interview with Richard Clarke and Robert Knake on their new book, a news roundup including a recent Supreme Court ruling, Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency and more.

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