Today's Headlines and Commentary

I'm back from Ft. Meade, MD after Ben and my little Al-Nashiri liveblogging excursion. Here is your news fix for today: The Miami Herald reports that--as we noted yesterday--Inspire, Al Qaeda's esteemed publication,  made its way into the Guantanamo detainee population. The Associated Press gives us details of the White House's conference on homegrown terrorism:

State and local law enforcement officials convened at the White House on Wednesday for a daylong discussion about how police can maintain the trust of their communities while identifying and preventing violent extremism and homegrown terrorism — an effort the administration considers critical to national security.

Robin Simcox of the Henry Jackson Society has a fiery op-ed in the Wall Street Journal saying that "instead of the year in which Mr. Obama shuts down Guantanamo, 2012 should be the year that he starts defending it." In Afghanistan news, the Wall Street Journal informs us that Taliban commanders have endorsed peace talks with the U.S., "but cautioned that some of their fellow militants might reject any peace deal." This seems like an astute observation. The New York Times says that "[m]ore than two dozen people were killed in a four [Taliban] insurgent attacks in southern Afghanistan that began late Wednesday and continued through Thursday afternoon." Carol Williams of the Los Angeles Times has this piece arguing that "US troops need better training on [the] laws of war." Booz Allen Hamilton realeased its Cyber Power Index, which ranks the ability of G20 nations "to withstand cyber attacks and to deploy the digital infrastructure necessary for a productive and secure economy." According to the index, we came in second--right behind the U.K. and ahead of Australia, Germany, and Canada. Who would have thought? Adam Segal of the Council on Foreign Relations writes on U.S.-China cyber relations. And in the spirit of the excitement over the Inspire magazine situation, today's Moment of Zen--which actually appeared last March--is about that Al-Qaeda publication you may not have heard of--Al-Shamikha (The Majestic Woman)--but which you should consult regularly if you want to marry a mujahid. 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, Fordham Law's Center on National Security’s Morning Brief, and Fordham Law's new Cyber Brief. Email us noteworthy articles we may have missed at wakeman.lawfare@gmail.com and singh.lawfare@gmail.com.