Today's Headlines and Commentary
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The big news this morning is that Al Qaeda has joined the ranks of those who say that the U.S. targeted killing of Anwar Al-Aulaqi was unconstitutional. Jason Ukman at the Washington Post reports on the video released by the terrorist organization, as does Mackenzie Weinger at the Politico. The complaint brings to mind this classic video from the Onion:
Al Qaeda Also Fed Up With Ground Zero Construction Delays
AQAP has also confirmed that both Anwar Al-Aulaqi and Samir Khan have been killed. Charlie Savage at the New York Times, among others, covers this announcement. Ben Pershing at the Post writes on the (lack of) preparedness of Congress in the event of another terrorist attack. He interviews Norm Ornstein and references one of Ornstein's Roll Call columns, which you can read here. Ellen Nakashima at the Post writes today on the ongoing calls for clarity on U.S. policy with regards to cyber threats. The third attempted arson attack in the last two days on a German railway was thwarted on Monday. Juergen Baetz of the AP (via the Miami Herald) has the story. Marc Thiessen calls Eric Holder President Obama's "albatross." Richard Cohen over at the Post writes on the secret OLC memo, asking "Who the hell is David Barron?" Apparently the standards for determining the significance of a legal memo is if Mr. Cohen has heard of its authors before. Yesterday, I shared the U.N. report on tortures in Afghan detention centers. You can read coverage of the report's release at NPR and the Washington Post, although there is quite a bit out there. For more interesting law and security-related articles, follow us on Twitter and visit the Georgetown Center on National Security and the Law's Security Law Brief. Email me noteworthy articles that I may have missed at wakeman.lawfare@gmail.com.
Raffaela Wakeman is a Senior Director at In-Q-Tel. She started her career at the Brookings Institution, where she spent five years conducting research on national security, election reform, and Congress. During this time she was also the Associate Editor of Lawfare. From there, Raffaela practiced law at the U.S. Department of Defense for four years, advising her clients on privacy and surveillance law, cybersecurity, and foreign liaison relationships. She departed DoD in 2019 to join the Majority Staff of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where she oversaw the Intelligence Community’s science and technology portfolios, cybersecurity, and surveillance activities. She left HPSCI in May 2021 to join IQT.
Raffaela received her BS and MS in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009 and her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2015, where she was recognized for her commitment to public service with the Joyce Chiang Memorial Award. While at the Department of Defense, she was the inaugural recipient of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s General Counsel Award for exhibiting the highest standards of leadership, professional conduct, and integrity.
