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Today's Headlines and Commentary

Raffaela Wakeman
Thursday, April 19, 2012, 10:52 AM
Greg Miller at the Washington Post reports on the CIA's efforts to expand its drone campaign in Yemen. The agency requests that it be permitted to strike based solely on intelligence indicating suspicious behavior--not necessarily known identities. This is the policy the CIA has been following in its campaign in Pakistan.

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Greg Miller at the Washington Post reports on the CIA's efforts to expand its drone campaign in Yemen. The agency requests that it be permitted to strike based solely on intelligence indicating suspicious behavior--not necessarily known identities. This is the policy the CIA has been following in its campaign in Pakistan. Speaking of which, another drone strike in Yemen has killed three militants, Reuters tells us. After all the brouhaha last week during the Al Nashiri hearings, media lawyer David Schulz penned this op-ed in the New York Times arguing that the trials should be open to the press. Adam Liptak writes in the New York Times on the Supreme Court's ruling on the Torture Victim Protection Act, which John Bellinger posted about yesterday. The House GOP is pushing back against the White House's requests to reinstate mandates on private businesses for cybersecurity cooperation with the government that was recently dropped from their bill. Brendan Sasso at The Hill reports. The House's Homeland Security Committee passed the modified bill last night. Bloomberg's editorial yesterday was focused on the deteriorating relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan. It urges the U.S. to accept the Pakistani parliament's demands. It seems that the U.S. and NATO have reached a consensus on concluding the war in Afghanistan, Elisabeth Bumiller at the Times reports. And Larry Abramson at NPR tells us that it's we who will be footing the bill for Afghan forces even after we're gone. A Libyan military commander has filed a lawsuit against former UK Justice Minister Jack Straw for his role in his rendition and torture, writes Rebecca DiLeonardo at Jurist. The AP's Nigel Duara and Malin Rising have this piece about allegations by Yonas Fikre, an American Muslim, that he was tortured in the UAE at the FBI's request (or, in the State Department's words, held "on unspecified charges.") Omar Khadr, the 25-year old Guantanamo detainee, has formally requested transfer to Canada, Colin Perkel at the Globe and Mail reports, as does Tobi Cohen at the National Post. Unfortunately, it looks like Canada has closed one of the prisons that was being considered for Khadr's confinement, known as "Guantanamo North," writes Tobi Cohen as well. An amicus brief for opponents to the NDAA has been filed in the case led by Christopher Hedges, Courthouse News says. The Pentagon asked that the Los Angeles Times not release those photos of U.S. soldiers posing with the body parts of Afghan insurgents, says Brian Stelter at the New York Times. And Thom Shanker and Graham Bowley at the Times write on what this sickening revelation shows us about discipline in the military.  The four reporters recently awarded a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the NYPD surveillance on the Muslim community were on NPR's Fresh Air yesterday. 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 Cyber Brief. Email us noteworthy articles we may have missed at wakeman.lawfare@gmail.com and  singh.lawfare@gmail.com.

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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.

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