The Week That Was: All of Lawfare In One Post

Washington D.C. is under attack . . . by snow. If you're snowed in and need some stuff to read, Susan has you covered.

Cody flagged the Atlantic Council’s event featuring Admiral Mike Rogers, Commander of U.S. Cyber Command and Director of the National Security Agency. Admiral Rogers discussed cybersecurity and cyberdefense’s role in US national security strategy and also what cyber conflict will look like in the future.

Paul Rosenzweig was disappointed with the Nuclear Threat Initiative’s report indicating that twenty countries that have nuclear power plants were at risk of cyber attacks. Herb Lin was also disappointed, but disagreed with Paul.

Paul also highlighted Russian hackers’ cyber attack on Kiev’s airport, China’s hack on a Pentagon defense contractor to steal secret robot plans, and a new model for cyber attack attribution.

Herb also asked why there is not a “Law Enforcement Innovation Initiative” similar to the Defense Innovation Initiative. He said that, surely, this type of initiative would aid law enforcement with problems such as “going dark” and other tech issues.

Stewart Baker brought us the latest edition of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, featuring John Lynch and Jim Lewis.

Cody shared the latest Lawfare Podcast giving Bitcoin some love after we hated on it last week.

William Lietzau issued a response to a couple of articles about him and Guantanamo. William suggested that it is time to move beyond the debate about who may be preventing Guantanamo from closing and start talking about how to win the war.

David Manners-Weber commented on Congress’s new tactic to keep refugees out and Guantanamo open: certification.

Ben summarized his and Steve Vladeck’s piece in the Washington Post, which offered their own formula to break the executive-legislative stalemate on Guantanamo.

Helen Klein outlined Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri’s brief for his military commission challenge in the D.C. circuit court. The core question of the case is whether military commission jurisdiction under the Military Commissions Act (MCA) extends to Nashiri’s pre 9/11 alleged crimes.

Elina Saxena and I watched the fourth Democratic Presidential Debate and outlined the relevant Lawfare sections just for you.

Butch Bracknell commented on Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s consideration to de-rank General David Petraeus in response to the former CIA director’s disclosure of classified information to his biographer turned mistress. He says that this would send a harmful signal throughout the ranks of senior uniformed leaders.

Michael Knapp analyzed President Obama’s 39 letters to Congress “consistent with” the War Powers Resolution requirements.

Cody updated us on Senator Mitch McConnell’s move to introduce a new AUMF against the Islamic State to the Senate floor.

Aaron Zelin released the newest Jihadology Podcast discussing the Islamic State’s network inside Turkey.

John Bellinger dove into the State Department’s announcement that Iran and the United States agreed to settle one of the largest remaining claims outstanding in the U.S.-Iran Claims Tribunal. John called the announcement, which was possibly linked to the release of the American prisoners, regrettable.

Laura Dean debuted Omphalos’s first dispatch from Lebanon highlighting refugees, security, and Syria.

Dawinder Sidhu commented on Islamophobia and its resurgence since the Paris and San Bernardino terrorist attacks.

Ben and Zoe Bedell dove into whether Congress immunized Twitter against lawsuits for providing material support to the Islamic State.

Ben also issued the latest version of Rational Security, entitled “The Red Rover Edition.”

In this week’s Foreign Policy Essay, John Lee analyzed what the economic slowdown means for China’s future power.

The Lawfare staff shared the latest version of Water Wars discussing the Taiwanese election and what it means for China.

Julian Ku questioned why the United States demands innocent passage in the South China Sea, but not in the Persian Gulf. He stressed that the United States must not let the Iran incident with the captured U.S. sailors become precedent for other countries.

Cody shared Brookings’ event featuring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer as he discussed his new book The Court and the World: American Law and the New Global Realities.

Neil Kinkopf reviewed Saikrishna Prakash’s new book, Imperial from the Beginning: The Constitution of the Original Executive, calling it a “useful guidebook.”

And Naz Mordirzadeh took on Ban Ki Moon over countering violent extremism.

And that was the week that was.