Today's Headlines and Commentary

Be careful what you tweet, all you political dissidents. The Department of Homeland Security has begun  "developing guidelines for culling intelligence from social media networks" after the events of the Arab Spring, reports P. Solomon Banda of the Associated Press. William Yardley of the New York Times covers the opening arguments at the court martial of Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, the alleged ringleader of an Army unit that killed three unarmed Afghan civilians. The Los Angeles Times has more. The bail hearing for the Massachusetts man accused of plotting to fly drones into the Pentagon is scheduled for Friday. He has "pleaded not guilty to charges that include attempting to provide material support to terrorists and attempting to damage and destroy national defense premises," says the AP. Some buzz about possible military intervention in Syria in Reuters. Although NATO has no appetite for a role in Syria's uprising, several leaders, including Senator John McCain, have started to talk about limited action. Somalia and Kenya are calling on on "big countries" to fight Al-Shabab, members of whom the United States already targets with drones, according to a Times piece. A Pakistani man who killed a U.S. Army officer in 2007 acted alone, and a Pentagon investigation concluded that "there [wa]s little evidence to support collaboration with the Pakistani militia or military," according to CNN.com.  In other Pakistan news, Pir Zubair Shah and Carlotta Gall of the Times report that senior members of the Haqqani network are hanging out in plain sight in big cities, not in the remote tribal areas we send drones into targeting them. Does the name Osama bin Laden ring any bells? The Los Angeles Times argues in an editorial that the Obama administration's secrecy surrounding national security issues has been "one of its most disappointing attributes."  Having taken out Anwar Al-Aulaqi, the U.S. is now gunning for AQAP's top bomb maker, reports Siobhan Gorman of the Wall Street Journal. And speaking of drones, if you're at a loss for a Christmas present for somebody who really loves her iPhone, maybe this Moment of Zen will inspire you.  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. Feel free to email me noteworthy articles I may have missed at singh.lawfare@gmail.com.