Today’s Headlines and Commentary

Hadas Gold of Politico reports that Sen. Rand Paul is making good on his threat to place a hold on FBI director-nominee Jim Comey until the Bureau “answers questions about the use of drones for domestic surveillance.” The Los Angeles Times editorial board gives Comey its backing for FBI director---but says that the Senate should examine Comey’s past positions on waterboarding a little more closely. CNN and the AP report that Saeed al-Shihri, an ex-Guantanamo Bay detainee and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s No. 2, was apparently killed by a drone strike, according to a video posted on militant websites. Shihri has been rumored dead on several other occasions, only to then resurface a few months later. As Wells noted yesterday, DDC Judge Rosemany Collyer denied three motions on force feeding procedures at Guantanamo Bay. Josh Gerstein of Politico and Ann E. Marimow of the Washington Post have more on the decision. Josh Gerstein of Politico also reports that the White House and the military have asked Judge Royce Lamberth to put a hold on his order banning genital searches of Guantanamo Bay detainees. According to Carlo Munoz of the Hill, one U.S. soldier has been killed and three have been wounded in an attack on a base in Paktia province yesterday morning. One Emerson Winfield Begolly of Pennsylvania has been sentenced to 102 months in prison “for soliciting others to engage in acts of terrorism within the United States and for using a firearm during and in relation to an assault on FBI agents,” according to the Bureau’s official press release. Carol Cratty of CNN also has the story. Peter Bergen examines the state of jihad in this CNN article. The transcript for the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board’s recent workshop on surveillance programs (which Bobby flagged here) is now available. Fear not, I didn’t forget to give you your customary Snowden update: CNN tells us that Snowden’s Russian lawyer said Snowden is likely to leave the Moscow airport in a few days. The Hill reports that Sen. Lindsey Graham said the U.S. should consider boycotting the 2014 Winter Olympics if Russia grants Snowden asylum. President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, is yawning about the implications for the U.S.-Russia relationship if Russia grants Snowden asylum, the Times says. Gerd Leonhard, CEO of The Futures Agency, has an interesting perspective in the Harvard Business Review about the future of U.S.-based technology companies, and the the future of U.S.-EU relationships, post-Snowden. Michael Birnbaum of the Post describes domestic anger leveled at German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the NSA’s surveillance programs. And the AP reports that a coalition of nineteen organizations, led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, has filed a lawsuit in federal court in California over the NSA’s collection of telephonic metadata. The suit, among other things, demands “that the federal government return and destroy any telephone communications information in its possession.” For more interesting law and security-related articles, follow us on Twitter, visit the Georgetown Center on National Security and the Law’s Security Law Brief, Syracuse’s Institute for National Security & Counterterrorism’s newsroll and blog, and Fordham Law’s Center on National Security’s Morning Brief and Cyber Brief. Email Raffaela Wakeman and Ritika Singh noteworthy articles to include, visit the Lawfare Events Calendar for upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings at the Lawfare Job Board.