Today’s Headlines and Commentary

August hasn’t been quite as sleepy in Washington as it is rumored to be. In addition to the Department of Justice White Paper on Section 215 that was released on Friday, CNN’s Evan Perez points us to a NSA memorandum that was also released, which describes the scope and scale of NSA collection. Coverage of the president’s press conference last Friday afternoon has been plentiful---but you’ve likely read it all by now. Instead, here is some analysis to take note of: Amy Davidson at the New Yorker argues that "[a]ll four of Obama’s proposed reforms are useful.” But not if you believe Paul Lewis and Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian, who say that “[n]othing Obama announced is likely to materially alter the NSA's ongoing mass collection of phone data and surveillance of internet communications in the short term.” Shane Harris of Foreign Policy, meanwhile, writes that “these changes, while not merely cosmetic, have already been proposed by members of Congress and outside experts.” Peter Grier of the Christian Science Monitor describes the reactions from security and privacy experts. And from our crew, be sure to check out Carrie (and Steve’s response), Matthew, and Bobby on President Obama’s announced proposals. Dana Priest of the Washington Post explains, for the confused, how the NSA’s surveillance programs work. American embassies throughout the Middle East reopened yesterday, except for the one in Sana, reports Eric Schmitt of the New York Times. The BBC has more. Nasser Al-Wahishi, leader of AQAP, vowed in a video message that there would be more jailbreaks, and he rallied prisoners to stay faithful to jihad, says Maamoun Youssef of the Associated Press. CNN’s Barbara Starr tells us more about the recent Yemen-based Al Qaeda terror plot. The AP informs us that Al Qaeda militants have killed five Yemeni soldiers. There was another U.S. drone strike in Yemen over the weekend; the strike claimed the lives of two suspected AQAP operatives. Here is Reuters on that. Legal thriller writer John Grisham has this op-ed in the Times about Nabil Hadjarab, a Guantanamo Bay detainee he has come to know. Hadjarab has been recommended for transfer twice; he is also currently one of the hunger strikers at the prison. Accused war criminal Laszlo Csatary died this weekend. The 98 year old man, who has been on the run for many years, is accused of allegedly “dog-whipping Jews and helping send them to the Auschwitz death camp in World War II.” Alan Cowell of the Times has more on the charges. As Raffaela noted on Friday, two email provider companies, Lavabit and Silent Circle, have decided to stop operating instead of granting the U.S. government access to their customers’ information. Shane Harris of Foreign Policy has details on the “new front of the surveillance war.” Bruce Schneier also discusses the move by the two companies. Carlo Munoz of the Hill reports that three American soldiers were killed and several others wounded in Paktia province in Afghanistan this weekend. Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban, issued an online statement last week; Bill Roggio of the Long War Journal outlines the noteworthy parts of it. According to Isabel Kershner of the Times, Israel announced the names of the 26 Palestinian prisoners it plans to release this week as part of a agreement for peace talks with Palestinian leaders. Simultaneously, Israel approved the construction of more than 1,000 settlements, reports Edmund Sanders of the Los Angeles Times. One step forward, two steps backward. And speaking of settlement building and the peace talks, from the Onion comes important news on the venue for the coming talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. It’s Today’s Moment of Zen. 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.