Parliamentary oversight of security and intelligence agencies in the EU

One of the reasons for the lack of posts on this blog the past months is that I co-authored this large study (446 pages), together with Aidan Wills, for the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE). The study came out today, and also includes a number of attachments written by national [...]

New book by Kent Roach – The 9/11 Effect: Comparative Counter-Terrorism

The 9/11 Effect – Comparative Counter-TerrorismKent Roach, University of Toronto Publication date: August 2011 448 pages Abstract: This book critically and comparatively examines the responses of the United Nations and a range of countries to the terror attacks on September 11, 2001. It assesses the convergence between the responses of western democracies including the United [...]

Transformative Radicalization: Applying Learning Theory to Islamist Radicalization

Alex S. Wilner and Claire-Jehanne Dubouloz have a new article in ‘Studies in Conflict and Terrorism’. Abstract: While a consensus has emerged concerning the role radicalization plays in persuading Westerners to participate in terrorism, little research investigates the cognitive processes inherent to radicalization processes. Transformative learning theory, developed from the sciences in education and rehabilitation, [...]

Clive Walker – Terrorism and the law

Clive Walker has just published his new book at OUP: Terrorism laws and legal practices have been politically and socially controversial to a degree beyond almost any other legal issue during the past decade, and this analytical text contains extensive analysis of these controversies. Written by  leading commentator Clive Walker, Terrorism and the Law offers [...]

Advising terrorism – hybrid scrutiny, safe harbors, and freedom of speech

SSRN has published new scholarship from Peter Margulies analyzing the Supreme Court decision in Humanitarian Law Project v. Holder (HLP) upholding a statute that bars “material support” of terrorist organizations. Some commentators have labeled HLP as heralding a new McCarthyism. Margulies argues that such critics overlook the tailored quality of the decision’s hybrid scrutiny model, [...]

Criminalizing Humanitarian Engagement

This Working Paper presents HPCR’s research to date on dilemmas arising from the intersection between, on the one hand, counterterrorism laws and policies prohibiting engagement with certain non‐state entities and, on the other, humanitarian access and protection of civilians in armed conflict. This Working Paper aims to provide HPCR’s initial analysis of these dilemmas and [...]

Freedom of Speech, Support for Terrorism, and the Challenge of Global Constitutional Law

Freedom of Speech, Support for Terrorism, and the Challenge of Global Constitutional Law – Daphne Barak-Erez and David Scharia In the recent case of Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a criminal prohibition on advocacy carried out in coordination with, or at the direction of, a foreign [...]

Investigating Violations of International Law in Armed Conflict

Investigating Violations of International Law in Armed Conflict – Michael N. Schmitt On December 27, 2008, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) launched Operation Cast Lead into Gaza in an attempt to thwart continuing attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian organized armed groups. Military operations continued for twenty-two days until Israel declared a unilateral cease-fire and [...]

Freedom of Speech, Support for Terrorism, and the Challenge of Global Constitutional Law

Freedom of Speech, Support for Terrorism, and the Challenge of Global Constitutional Law – Daphne Barak-Erez and David Scharia In the recent case of Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a criminal prohibition on advocacy carried out in coordination with, or at the direction of, a foreign [...]

US Director of National Intelligence disclosed budget request

For Fiscal Year 2012, “The aggregate amount of appropriations requested for the National Intelligence Program is $55 billion,” according to a February 14 ODNI news release. The new disclosure was required by the FY2010 intelligence authorization act (sec. 364).  That legislation permitted an optional Presidential waiver of disclosure if necessary on national security grounds, but [...]