The Week That Was: All of Lawfare in One Post

With the completion of the Volume I of The Report, Lawfare’s podcast series telling the story contained in Robert Mueller’s 448-page report, the Lawfare team is taking a brief hiatus to prepare Volume II. In the interim, Quinta Jurecic shared a bonus episode focusing on the mysterious death of Peter Smith. The series is available on all major podcast distribution services:

Jen Patja Howell shared the Lawfare Podcast, in which David Priess spoke with former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano about her time in the department and her views on the current administration’s use of Homeland Security:

As conflicts between Iran and the U.S. escalate, Bobby Chesney offered an update and his insights on the Cyber Command operation that took place in Iran in June. Patrick Hulme explained the president’s ability to use military force against Iran without congressional approval and the history of military action and congressional approval in the U.S. Paul Rosenzweig also analyzed presidential powers, focusing on President Trump’s pardon power in light of his recent comments to his staff to take private property without due process as a means to complete his border wall:

Amanda Sloat wrote an update on Brexit following this week’s ongoing disputes between Parliament and Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Alex Stamos wrote a potential op-ed from the future on the state of election interference in the U.S.

In cyber and tech news, Patja Howell shared another episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Margaret Taylor sat down with Brookings scholar and former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Tom Wheeler to discuss the cybersecurity concerns for 5G networks:

Kyle Langvardt and Alan Z. Rozenshtein dissected three recently proposed bills from Sen. Josh Hawley aimed at disrupting big tech companies. Stewart Baker shared an episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast which focused on China, from their information warfare in response to Hong Kong protests as well as their efforts to compromise iPhones, and Cyber Command’s “defending forward” strategy. Baker also released a Cyberlaw bonus episode about election interference and potential Chinese meddling in Taiwan’s 2020 election. The bonus episode features a special guest, former Facebook Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos:

In terrorism related debates, Hilary Matfess and Alexander Noyes analyzed the current terrorism issue facing Mozambique. Jacob Schulz shared a ruling from the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia determining that procedures for the federal government’s terrorist “watchlist” are unconstitutional. Chesney and Steve Vladeck also discussed terrorism concerns, specifically domestic terrorism, as well as the upcoming 9/11 trial, the potential peace deal in Afghanistan and more in this week's National Security Law Podcast.

Jen Patja Howell shared the latest edition of Rational Security in which Tamara Cofman Wittes, Shane Harris, Susan Hennessey and Benjamin Wittes discussed the inspector general report on former FBI Director James Comey, the CIA’s views on White House plans in Afghanistan and National Security Advisor John Bolton’s reported exclusion from certain key aspects of the administration’s foreign policy process:

As the G-7 summit drew to a close, Célia Belin analyzed French President Emmanuel Macron’s strategies at the recent meetings in France.

And Steven Pifer delved into the relationship between Russia and Ukraine that will potentially cause Russia to cut off natural gas to Ukraine in January, and efforts by EU officials to stop this from happening.

And that was the week that was.