Today's Headlines and Commentary

In testimony before the Senate Judiciary committee yesterday, outgoing FBI Director Robert Muller acknowledged that his agency uses drones to conduct surveillance within the United States in a "very, very minimal way." Here's Phil Mattingly in the Washington Post on his remarks. Senator Dianne Feinstein has written to SecDef Hagel about the hunger strike down in GTMO---urging that the DoD adopt the policies that govern the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, and reevaluate its force-feeding policy. Here's the letter, which comes just after her visit with Senator John McCain to the detention facility. Here's a story in The Hill. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's memo to fellow Democrats  comparing surveillance law under the Bush administration with surveillance law under the Obama administration was leaked to Talking Points Memo. Read it here. The National Security Agency has released two documents, which describe the two sections of FISA---sections 215 and 702---that lie at the center of the controversy sparked by the Edward Snowden leaks. Read them here and here. Meanwhile, Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall aren't buying the NSA's argument that the surveillance program has thwarted more than 50 terrorist attacks. Ellen Nakashima reports in the Post on the statement the Senate pair released. Foreign Policy reporter Shane Harris's 2010 book The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State is back in the spotlight, given what's at the top of the media' agenda. He was interviewed at length on NPR's Fresh Air. Sari Horwitz and Jia Lynn Yang bring up in the Post some complications in the effort to extradite Snowden, whom Julian Assange has indicated may acquire asylum in Iceland---as Charlie Savage and Scott Shane describe in their New York Times story. Across the pond, the highest court in Britain found the use of a secret court to impose sanctions against an Iranian bank to be invalid, and a misuse of the U.K.'s antiterrorism laws. Here's a New York Times story, the decision itself and the press release from the court. Another significant decision from the British Supreme Court: families of soldiers killed or injured in Iraq may sue the government for failing to protect them. Here's the AP story. Remember that SARS-like virus that originated in the Middle East? Well, 65 percent of those who've been confirmed to have contracted the virus have died. The infection rate is particularly high because of how easily the virus transmits in a hospital setting. Here's a Washington Post story, and here's Denise Grady's Times report on research into the virus. David Remes authored this piece in the Guardian, arguing that GTMO joint detention group commanding officer Col. Bogdan should be relieved of this post, in light of the ongoing hunger strike there. 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 blog, and Fordham Law’s Center on National Security’s Morning Brief and Cyber Brief. Email Raffaela Wakeman and Ritika Singh noteworthy articles to include, visit the Lawfare Events Calendar for upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings at the Lawfare Job Board.