Today's Headlines and Commentary

Raffaela Wakeman
Tuesday, September 18, 2012, 9:32 AM
All American government employees except emergency U.S. government personnel were evacuated from Tunisia and Sudan over the weekend, writes the Washington Post. The Post also says that negotiations on U.S.

Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
Brookings

All American government employees except emergency U.S. government personnel were evacuated from Tunisia and Sudan over the weekend, writes the Washington Post. The Post also says that negotiations on U.S. aid to Egypt are stalled because of the continuation of protests across the Muslim world. Fourteen people were killed by a suicide bomber today in Kabul, yet another response to the anti-Muslim video circulating the web. Hezb-i-Islami claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the New York Times. And in response to Newsweek's cover story entitled MUSLIM RAGE some Muslims have taken to the Twitter to  share what really ticks them off, using the hash tag #muslimrage. In response to the continuation of "insider attacks," ISAF has decided to cut down on the number joint operations with Afghan military and police, limiting them to the battalion level and above. Richard Leiby of the Post reports, as does Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times. Charlie Savage had a piece in the New York Times on Judge Forrest's ruling in Hedges. How many expert warnings does it take to convince policymakers of the need for modern cybersecurity policy? Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post discussed cybersecurity policy with Steven Chabinsky, former deputy assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division. Said Chabinsky: "The FBI needs stronger partners in the private sector who can figure out who the bad guys are, and there needs to be much stronger relationships between the private sector, law enforcement and the courts to ensure that all the legal authorities that exist can be brought to bear against cyber attackers." And members of the Internet infrastructure industry have banded together to form the Internet Infrastructure Coalition (I2C) to advocate for public policy solutions to support its members, writes Jennifer Martinez of The Hill. Here's its "About Us" statement on their website:
The Internet Infrastructure Coalition supports those who build the nuts and bolts of the Internet, and we treat it like the noble profession that it is. We believe the continued growth of the Internet is vital for growing an environment of innovation in America and seek to engage in ways to foster success of the Internet and Internet infrastructure industry. We seek to influence decision makers to weigh decisions on whether they are good or bad for the Internet economy and its foundational industries. In short, we seek to foster growth within the Internet infrastructure industry by driving others to harness the Internet’s full potential.
Mark Thompson highlights some recent research by Professor John Arquilla of the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, which compares the Reagan, Bush (II) and Obama approaches to terrorism over at Foreign Policy (h/t Mark Thompson). The GAO came out with this report last week on progress toward integrating unmanned aircraft systems into domestic airspace (h/t Security Management). It's summarized as follows:
As requested, this report discusses (1) the status of obstacles identified in GAO’s 2008 report to integrate UAS into the national airspace system, (2) FAA’s progress in meeting its congressional requirements for UAS, and (3) emerging issues. GAO reviewed and analyzed documents and interviewed relevant government, academic, and private-sector entities, as well as UAS users and civil liberties organizations. [The] FAA should incorporate regular monitoring of its efforts to assess progress toward fulfilling its statutory requirements. FAA, DHS, and DOJ should explore whether any actions are needed to guide the collection and use of UAS-acquired data. GAO provided a draft of this report to officials at DOT, DHS, DOJ, and three other agencies. DHS and DOJ concurred with the recommendation; DOT officials agreed to consider the recommendations.
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, and check out the Lawfare Events Calendar for upcoming national security events.

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.

Subscribe to Lawfare