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Public Opinion on Trump's Travel Ban
Writing for the New York Times in December 2015, Peter Spiro argued that candidate Trump’s proposed religious-based immigration ban—although reprehensible—may pass constitutional muster because of the co... -
Backgrounder: Senators Introduce Bill to Restrict NSC Membership
On Thursday, February 2, Senators Mark Warner (D-VA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced legislation to restri... -
DoD Exempts Cyber from Trump’s Hiring Freeze
On Wednesday, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a memo that clarifies how the Department of Defense (DoD) will implement President Trump’s executive order to freeze all civilian hiring across all de... -
Breathe Easy: Rick Ledgett’s Retirement is Not a Political Protest
Late Friday, word came out of NSA that the highly-respected Deputy Director Rick Ledgett would be retiring in the spring. Understandably, people wondered whether this was the first indication of trouble ... -
Best <s>Military Intelligence Foreign Policy</s> Political Advice: The Problem With National Security Presidential Memorandum 2
In 2012, I witnessed a scene that has been on my mind this week: then-Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough reprimanded a less experienced staffer for merely referencing the ongoing reelection... -
House of Cards: Building Our National Security on the Alt-Right’s Alternative Threats
In November, I cautioned that then-President-elect Trump’s appointment of Breitbart CEO Stephen Bannon as his chief strategist and Michael “Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL” Flynn as his national security adv... -
Is Steve Bannon’s Role on the National Security Council Actually Unprecedented?
In response to outcry over President Trump’s reorganization of the National Security Council—and particularly Steve Bannon’s elevation to the NSC and his permanent invite to the NSC’s Principals Committe... -
A Precedent for Democrats on the Classy Way to Handle Neil Gorsuch
Neil Gorsuch is an eminent jurist who is undoubtedly qualified to be an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court. So too is Merrick Garland. In the law of the jungle that now governs the confirmation proce... -
The Special Obligation of the Advocates of Strong National Security Measures
Years ago, then-New Republic editor Michael Kinsley famously joked that he was going to change the name of the magazine to Even the Liberal New Republic, a quip on the uncomfortable frequency with which ... -
Can Trump Harness the Private Sector to Stop Violent Extremism?
Editor’s Note: Programs for countering violent extremism—or CVE, as it is known in the jargon—may be in jeopardy. The incoming administration, in its rhetoric at least, has emphasized "tough" solutions t... -
National Security Presidential Memorandum 2—President Trump's NSC and HSC
The White House has just released National Security Presidential Memorandum 2 (NSPM-2), which defines the organization and functions of President Trump's National Security Council (NSC) and Homeland Secu... -
The “Interior Security” Executive Order, the Privacy Act, and Privacy Shield
Yesterday’s Executive Order on “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States” triggered alarm among privacy advocates in the U.S. and EU about the continued viability of the economically ...
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