Today's Headlines and Commentary

As Bobby has already noted, Greg Miller has a lengthy Washington Post report (part I of three!) disclosing more details of the Obama administration's targeted killing policy, discussing the administration's "disposition matrix," which maps out details and locations of those on the kill list (which, by the way, shows no sign of actually shortening). Miller's story also is the second among major media to note that JSOC has sent special ops teams into Africa. Leaks schmeaks. Speaking of drone strike strategy, Conor Friedersdorf calls President Obama's drone strategy unscrupulous, with "zero checks and balances" and says he expects a potential Romney administration to do no better. Here's Adam Nossiter of the New York Times with the latest on the rapidly disintegrating situation in Mali. There's international consensus that international intervention and military forces should be sent there to do battle with the Islamists in the north of the country. No one is really raising their hands, volunteering to go, however. The Nigerian navy has detained a Dutch-flagged ship owned by a Moscow-based security firm carrying rifles and ammunition (for use in Nigeria, the navy believes). Reuters reported early this morning that the Syrian government has agreed to a cease-fire during Eid al-Adha, which begins on Thursday. The agreement appears to have been brokered by Lakhdar Brahimi, the international mediator. And hey, looks like two cell blocks of Guantanamo detainees tuned in for the presidential debate. I wonder if they were as disappointed as Ben was that their situation was entirely ignored by the candidates. In response to Governor Romney's accusation that President Obama has "thrown allies like Israel under the bus," the former director of the Mossad, Efraim Halevy, reminds readers of his New York Times op-ed that in the past it's been Republican administrations, not Democratic ones, who've been the ones applying pressure to Israel. The Economist makes the rather displeasing argument that the recent reduction in Somali piracy isn't the result of improved defense on ships, Europe's anti-piracy organization, or more frequent arrests, but instead that the groups are "just taking a break." Nicole Perlroth writes in the New York Times on the cyberattack on Saudi Aramco this summer by a group calling itself the "Cutting Sword of Justice," or, as the United States prefers as shorthand, Iran. The virus erased data on 75 percent of Aramco's corporate computers and replaced it with an image of a burning American flag. The AP reports on research conducted by the Office of Naval Researchaiming to design a naval drone. The GOP's efforts to find out the truth about what the White House knew in the immediate aftermath of the Benghazi attack continue unabated, with Senator Saxby Chambliss calling for more hearings on Fox and Friends, reports Katie Glueck of Politico. Also, Senator Rand Paul asked yesterday "Where the hell were the Marines?" in Libya. Yesterday ISAF disclosed that a fight between it and Taliban forces in eastern Afghanistan killed four children who were in the area, but who didn't appear to be involved with the Taliban, unlike the three children killed last week. ISAF apologized, but did not take responsibility for their deaths given the nature of the firefight, writes Alissa Rubin in the New York Times. Senator Lindsey Graham "respectfully disagree[s]" with the DOD's decision to classify the Fort Hood shooting as a case of workplace violence, and urges the Pentagon to classify it instead as an act of terrorism. Here's Jordy Yager of The Hill on his remarks. British judges are considering claims that British intelligence was used in a CIA drone strike that killed Malik Daud in North Waziristan in a case brought by Daud's son Noor Khan. Read the BBC News story here. The ACLU has formally made a FOIA request for documents from the FAA, DOJ, DHS, GSA, and Air Force related to the use of drones in domestic airspace. The Washington Times profiles Guantanamo guards here. 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, Syracuse’s Institute for National Security & Counterterrorism’s newsroll, and Fordham Law’s Center on National Security’s Morning Brief and Cyber Brief. Email us noteworthy articles we may have missed at wakeman.lawfare@gmail.com and singh.lawfare@gmail.com, visit the Lawfare Events Calendar for upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings at the Lawfare Job Board.