The Year in Review: The Presidential Transition

As 2016 (finally) comes to an end, we’re looking back on an eventful year. This week, Lawfare will be rounding up coverage of some of our favorite national security topics of the past twelve months.

Today, we’re highlighting coverage of the 2016 Presidential transition.

We shared thoughts on the meaning of Donald Trump’s presidency and national security.

• The Burden on Donald Trump

• The Duty To Serve in Trump's America?

• The "Thick Line" of 2016

• Breaking Down Trump’s Middle East Policy

• Donald Trump and the Normalization of Torture

• Pence as Trump’s National Security Surrogate?

• Does Presidential Moral Reflection Matter? We’re About to Find Out

• International Law in the Age of Trump: A Post-Human Rights Agenda

• We’re Worried About the Baltics: What Does Trump’s Election Portend for these Tiny U.S. Allies?

• Can President-Elect Trump “Dismantle” the JCPOA? It’s Complicated

• My Lloyd Cutler Rule of Law Lecture: "Law and the Use of Force: Challenges for the Next President"

• The Trump Presidency and America’s Challenge

• Protecting the Republic: Securing Communications is More Important than Ever

• “Deep Risk” under Trump: Bannon and Flynn Are a National Security Problem

• Should We Work with the Devil We Know against the Islamic State?

• The Chess Clock Debates: Is There a Duty to Serve In Trump’s America?

• Trump’s Internet and How to Stop It

• Donald Trump and the Non-Existent Two Million Criminal Immigrants

• Muslim Registry or NSEERS Reboot Would Be Unconstitutional

• Libertarian Panic, Unlawful Action, and the Trump Presidency

• Reflections on Service in a Trump Administration

• On Bullshit and the Oath of Office: The “LOL Nothing Matters” Presidency

• Distributed Risk: On Conflicts, Doesn’t Matter If Trump Is a Saint

• Will President-elect Trump Fire the First Shot in the U.S.-China (Economic Sanctions) War?

• We Need to #AudittheVote—and It has Nothing to Do with Who Becomes President

• Exceptional Access in a Trump Administration

• In Defense of Trump Panic

• Donald Trump’s Historic Phone Call with Taiwan’s Tsai Ying-wen

• Russia May Be Done with the U.S. Election, But We Aren’t Done With Them

• A Special Grand Jury for the DNC Hack

• Brief the Electors

• Will the Bureaucracy Save Us from the President?

• Donald Trump’s State of Exception

• How to Serve in a Trump Administration

• Climate Change and National Security: An Opportunity for the Trump Administration—and Everyone Else

• Avoiding the Dangers Ahead in Review of Foreign Interference in U.S. Presidential Elections

Bobby Chesney and Paul Rosenzweig examined specific legal and policy changes of interest in their series on the “Annals of the Trump Administration”:

1. The Law of Interrogation

2. Which Executive Orders and Directives Are Doomed?

3. Refusing to Add Waterboarding to the Field Manual?

4. The Statute Needed for Gen. Mattis to be SecDef

5. Would Waterboarding Count as "Force," and Must It Be Disclosed?

6. Protecting Infrastructure

7. Shaping the War Obama Will Leave to Trump

8. Turning Off the Presidential Policy Guidance Limits for Libya

9. Immigration and Border Security Policy

We kept an eye on the political nominations that matter most to the Lawfare universe.

• President-Elect Trump Begins to Assemble His National Security Team

• Trump Adds to His National Security Team

• Trump Names General James Mattis as Secretary of Defense Nominee

• Trump Appoints DHS Secretary and Ambassador to China

• What Do We Want In A Secretary of Homeland Security?

• The Reward of Tillerson Won't Deter Russia

• Trump Appoints Tillerson as Secretary of State

• A View from Jerusalem of a Trump Ambassadorial Appointment

(We can’t imagine why anyone would want to, but in case you’re dying to relive the 2016 campaign, here’s a recap of our coverage.)