The Week That Was: All of Lawfare In One Post
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A rather important hearing was held Thursday, in the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Get all the testimony and opening remarks here, and read Ben's testimony and reflections. Here's a video, too.
Georgetown Law's Carrie Cordero offered an alternative to the "special advocate" proposal that some in Congress (and the President, too) are endorsing to reform the FISA process.
Bobby and Ben reflected on meetings they participated in this week up at the NSA.
If you think the whole NSA/FISA/Snowden debate is technical, dense and very serious, here's an episode involving Ben, the NSA, and Google that may make you smile.
Paul noted some new developments in an important Snowden-related episode indicating that a New York Times story alleging that the NSA built a backdoor into crypotgraphic standards might have been a bit overblown.
Welcome to the blogosphere, Just Security. Here's Ben's podcast interviewing Steve Vladeck and Ryan Goodman, the founders of the new blog; here also is Steve's comment regarding his plans to write on both sites, and the video of its launch event in New York City.
The debate over an international response to the crisis in Syria continued, and finally we have a draft U.N. Security Council resolution. Jack compares it to the 2002 Iraq resolution.
I shared, and then Steve commented on, the government's opening brief in the "counsel access case," more formally known as Hatim v. Obama.
Another Guantanamo habeas appeal inched forward this week, with oral arguments before the D.C. Circuit in Ali v. Obama. I previewed the oral arguments. A recap is coming shortly.
Wells shared the news of a guilty plea in the AP leaks controversy; it seems a former FBI agent, Donald Sachtleben, provided the classified information to an AP reporter.
Paul flagged a story by Dan Klaidman about the search for a new Secretary of Homeland Security---it seems the Obama administration is having a tough time finding someone to agree to fill Janet Napolitano's shoes.
There were many events on Constitution Day, and two of them were highlighted here on Lawfare: James A. Baker's speech at Dickinson College, noted by Jack, and a panel I moderated at Georgetown Law.
Lauren wrote up a summary of a recently declassified document, dated 1969, describing an incident in 1961 in which a B-52 bomber that was transporting two nuclear bombs crashed. And Sean wrote about another declassified document released, this time regarding the NSA's Minaret program from the 1960s and 1970s.
Ben compared the recent Intelligence Squared debate on the drone program to his and Ken's debate at the Oxford Union earlier this year. (Guess which one he liked better. . . .)
And Wells flagged John Villasenor's new article in Spectrum regarding the threat posed by counterfeit electronics.
In connection with the 20th anniversary year of the World Wide Web, Paul brought to our attention the first web page.
David Barron, someone familiar to the world of national security law, was nominated to the First Circuit Court of Appeals this week.
A great-looking event was profiled on Lawfare this week by guest author Phil Carter---a book event for Thank You For Your Service, which will be on October 1 at the Center for a New American Security.
If you're looking for another podcast to add to your queue, Ben recommends the Revolutions Podcast.
And that was the week that was.
Raffaela Wakeman is a Senior Director at In-Q-Tel. She started her career at the Brookings Institution, where she spent five years conducting research on national security, election reform, and Congress. During this time she was also the Associate Editor of Lawfare. From there, Raffaela practiced law at the U.S. Department of Defense for four years, advising her clients on privacy and surveillance law, cybersecurity, and foreign liaison relationships. She departed DoD in 2019 to join the Majority Staff of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where she oversaw the Intelligence Community’s science and technology portfolios, cybersecurity, and surveillance activities. She left HPSCI in May 2021 to join IQT.
Raffaela received her BS and MS in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009 and her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2015, where she was recognized for her commitment to public service with the Joyce Chiang Memorial Award. While at the Department of Defense, she was the inaugural recipient of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s General Counsel Award for exhibiting the highest standards of leadership, professional conduct, and integrity.
