Today's Headlines and Commentary

The Pentagon has transferred two long-cleared Guantanamo Bay detainees, Khalid al Dhuby and Mahmoud Omar Bin Atef, to the West African nation of Ghana, marking the first time that the United States has transferred a GTMO detainee to a sub-Saharan African country. The Miami Herald reports that there are now 105 detainees left on base; fifteen more releases are expected by the end of January. Ghana is the 24th country to accept former Guantanamo detainees; the Herald maps where all GTMO detainees have been transferred.

The United Nations yesterday condemned North Korea for testing a nuclear weapon on Wednesday, but the New York Times reports that it remains unclear whether key countries, such as China, will be willing to ratchet up pressure against the already isolated country. The Times notes that two obvious measures would be to prohibit loading or unloading North Korean ships anywhere in the world or the Security Council could block financial transactions with the Hermit Kingdom. However, both China and Russia have historically opposed any measures that could push the country to collapse. Elsewhere in the Times, David Sanger asks, “How do you contain Pyongyang?”

South Korea, which does not enjoy the luxury of physical distance from the Kim regime, announced today that it has entered into talks with the United States to deploy U.S. strategic weapons on the Korean peninsula. While South Korean officials refused to elaborate on the specific weapons, the Associated Press concludes that they likely refer to B-52 bombers, F-22 stealth fighters, and nuclear-powered submarines. When North Korea last tested a nuclear device in 2013, the United States sent a pair of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers to fly over South Korea as a show of force. South Korea also announced that it will resume cross-border propaganda broadcasts.

The Washington Post shares that at the very least, the United States will deploy a modified version of a WC-135 Constant Phoenix aircraft, called a nuclear “sniffer plane,” to fly along the Korean peninsula and test for radiation. The plane should provide data that will clarify whether the blast was actually from a hydrogen weapon, as the North has claimed. That claim has been met with skepticism by the White House and a number of outside experts.

Iranian officials accused the Saudi-led coalition of hitting its embassy in Yemen with an airstrike on Thursday, but reporters on the ground said there was no visible damage to the building. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian later updated the claim, saying that a Saudi “rocket hit near our embassy and one of the embassy guards was seriously injured.” The Saudi military has dismissed the accusation.

The Associated Press reports that a “massive truck bomb exploded near a police base in the western Libyan town of Zliten on Thursday, killing at least 60 policemen and wounding around 200 others.” While no group immediately claimed responsibility, the AP notes that ISIS fighters have recently been attempting to gain a foothold in Zliten.

In what Politico describes as “Capitol Hill’s most serious effort” yet, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has asked top Republican committee chairman to gauge whether there would be enough support in the House of Representatives to finally pass an Authorization for the Use of Military Force against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Ryan aides called the move a “kicking the tires” phase in order to determine whether a new AUMF is worth consideration.

Paris police killed a man as he tried to enter a police station wielding a meat cleaver. The man shouted “Allahu akbar,” was wearing what police later realized was a fake suicide belt, and was carrying a piece of paper bearing the Islamic State flag. While today marks the first anniversary of the deadly terrorist attacks on Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine, French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira suggested that the man had no known links to violent jihadist groups and may have been mentally unstable. The Associated Press has the latest.

The Pentagon today released the name of the U.S. special forces soldier killed earlier this week in Helmand province, Afghanistan. The Washington Post reports that Staff Sgt. Matthew Q McClintock, 30, of Des Moines, Washington was killed during a U.S.-Afghan joint operation against the Taliban in the city of Marja. The Post has more on the firefight and McClintock.

Yet Reuters asks, “Is there a Taliban at all?” Last month, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced that “there is no such thing as the Taliban, there are groups of Taliban.” That assessment, according to a recent Reuters report, seems increasingly accurate, as senior members of the group have announced that some factions of the Afghan Taliban are considering taking part in peace talks scheduled to begin again next week, while others have declared that they “will never be part of Mullah Mansour’s peace negotiation.” Mullah Akhtar Mansour took over the leadership of the main Taliban faction last year after it was revealed that Mullah Omar was dead.

Enrique Marquez, the friend tied to the couple who carried out a December terrorist attack in San Bernardino, plead not guilty yesterday to charges of conspiring to support terrorism. While not charged in connection to the San Bernardino attack itself, Marquez is charged for attacks he and Syed Farook allegedly planned in 2011 and 2012, as well as with two criminal counts of providing false information regarding the purchase of two rifles used in the San Bernardino assault. Marquez has also been charged with two other criminal accounts related to what the Wall Street Journal calls a “sham marriage he entered into with a member of Mr. Farook’s extended family as a way to get around immigration laws.”

The Washington Post reports that Muhanad Mahmoud al Farekh, an American citizen captured last year in Pakistan and extradited to the United States, was charged yesterday in connection with a 2009 attack on a U.S. military base in Afghanistan. Farekh is charged with conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals, use of explosives, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy to bomb a government facility.

Parting Shot: Are squirrels a bigger national security threat than cyberattacks against the U.S. power grid? At least one person thinks so. Find that bit of analysis here in the Christian Science Monitor.

ICYMI: Yesterday, on Lawfare

Stewart Baker shared the latest edition of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, which features an interview with Lawfare’s own Nick Weaver.

Ben advised civil libertarians and cryptographers to be careful what they wish for when it comes to device hacking and the law.

Gerald Steinberg outlined the issues behind Israel’s recently proposed NGO law.

James Kraska explored a few implications of the rise of submarine espionage in the South China Sea, asking whether such espionage inside a territorial sea is legal, and if not, what recourse does a coastal state have to stop the activity.

Finally, Ashley Deeks highlighted the potential conflicts between state and local drone laws and the FAA’s recently released drone regulations.

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