The Week That Was: All of Lawfare in One Post

In response to the missile strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force, Fred Burton considered the history of Iranian violence against diplomats and how the Bureau of Diplomatic Security will protect American diplomats given the recent Soleimani strike.

John Bellinger stated that attacking Iran’s cultural sites would violate the Hague Cultural Property Convention.

Chris Meserole considered Iran’s ability to use its “cyber arsenal” in response to the Soleimani strike.

Eric Halliday chronicled Iran and Hezbollah’s actions and capabilities outside of the Middle East.

Robert Chesney analyzed the legality behind a second, unsuccessful U.S. strike against another Iranian Quds Force commander, Abdul Reza Shahla’i, which was reported on Friday by the Washington Post.

Mikhaila Fogel shared a special edition of the Lawfare Podcast about the domestic and international law that surrounds the Soleimani strike:

Rebecca Lissner examined the growth (or lack thereof) of President Trump over the past three years.

In Water Wars, Sean Quirk analyzed Malaysia and Indonesia’s rebuttal against Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Jacques Singer-Emery looked at the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second Circuit’s decision in United States v. Hasbajrami.

Hadley Baker shared the new sentencing memorandum filed by federal prosecutors recommending that former national security adviser Michael Flynn serve up to six months in prison.

Jen Patja Howell shared the Ask Me Anything episode of the Lawfare Podcast, in which the Lawfare team answered questions sent in by readers and listeners:

Hannah Kris shared Rep. Elissa Slotkin’s (D-Mich) House resolution calling for the termination of the use of U.S. Armed Forces in Iran without Congressional Approval.

Scott R. Anderson and Margaret Taylor analyzed both the Slotkin resolution and one by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) seeking to limit President Trump’s military actions in Iran.

Danielle Citron, Robert Chesney and Quinta Jurecic weighed the implications of Facebook’s new policy targeting deep fakes.

Hadley Baker shared a livestream of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce of the House Committee on Energy and Comerce’s hearing “Americans at Risk: Manipulation and Deception in the Digital Age.”

Herb Lin examined the tactics of the U.S. Cyber Command in resisting Russian election interference.

Jen Patja Howell shared a new episode of Rational Security, the "Back from the Brink" edition:

Hadley Baker looked into how different members of Congress responded to President Trump’s handling of Iran.

Jen Patja Howell shared a new episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Quinta Jurecic sat down with Evelyn Douek, Kate Kloncik and Alina Polyakova to discuss how disinformation will feature in the year to come:

Hadley Baker also shared two letters submitted to the U.N. by the U.S. and Iranian ambassadors to the U.N. claiming—respectively–that the killing of Qassem Soleimani and the targeting of a military base in Iraq were self-defense measures under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter.

Elettra Bietti introduced a new paper from the Aegis paper series discussing the new General Data Protection Regulation and how it affects data collection for tech consumers.

Philip Bobbit argued that the House ought to subpoena witnesses before transmitting Trump’s impeachment articles to the Senate.

Preston Lim looked at new developments in Canadian national security, including the Canadian response to the Soleimani strike and the recently decided case Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov.

Hannah Kris announced the publication of the new Lawfare e-book, “Context and Consequences of the Soleimani Strike: A Lawfare Compilation.”

Jonathan Shaub considered the legal basis for the withholding of testimony by some in the impeachment trial. He also examined whether or not the House ought to have taken the case of recalcitrant witnesses to the courts before impeaching President Trump.

And that was the week that was.