Blackwater accused of trying to buy its way out of accountability

On November 11th, 2009, the New York Times reported that in December 2007, top executives at Blackwater (currently known as Xe) authorized cash payments up to $1 million to Iraqi officials with the intent to buy silence and support from the Iraqi government over the Nisour Square shootings on September 16th, 2007, in which 17 [...]

Interesting articles

Beth van Schaack – International Criminal Law & its Enforcement
This chapter, to appear in the 2nd edition of Beth Van Schaack & Ron Slye’s International Criminal Law & Its Enforcement (Foundation Press 2010), covers the crime of torture under international criminal law. It begins with a doctrinal discussion of the elements of torture as elucidated [...]

Intelligence community legal reference book

The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence has declassified its Intelligence Community Legal Reference Book from which the US intelligence community ‘draws much of its authority and guidance’. Download the 949 pages here.

Academic Articles and opinions worth reading

Jens David Ohlin (Cornell Law School) has posted The Torture Lawyers (Harvard International Law Journal, Forthcoming) on SSRN.
Laurence R. Helfer (Duke Univ. – Law) and Emilie Hafner-Burton have a new piece on “Opting Out: Derogations from Human Rights Treaties in National Emergencies“
Peter Margulies (Roger Williams University School of Law) has posted The Wages of Playing [...]

Divided Appeals Court Rules in Favor of Abu Ghraib Contractors

[JURIST] A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a lawsuit brought against private contractors by Iraqi plaintiffs alleging torture at the Abu Ghraib prison. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia  held that federal law concerning “combatant activities” preempted the state tort claims brought by the former detainees. Redefining the test set [...]

CIA abuses and accountability in the war on terror

Justice Department releases Helgerson report further detailing CIA abuses and tight control over them in ACLU FOIA suit
A court ordered the long-awaited release of the 2004 report by C.I.A Inspector General John L. Helgerson on the CIA’s interrogation techniques after a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit of the ACLU. The IG’s report is the most [...]

CIA-Blackwater assassination contract points to larger connections

The CIA’s decision to hire contractors from Blackwater USA for a covert assassination program was part of an expanding relationship in which the agency has relied on the widely criticized firm for tasks including guarding CIA lockups and loading missiles on Predator aircraft, according to current and former U.S. government officials.

Fourth Circuit affirms CIA contractor detainee abuse conviction

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Monday affirmed the conviction of a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractor on assault charges related to the abuse of an Afghan detainee. The court found that the district court had properly exercised maritime and territorial jurisdiction [18 USC § 7 text] over the actions [...]

John Brennan on the US counterterrorism policy

Remarks by John O. Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, As Prepared for Delivery “A New Approach to Safeguarding Americans, 6 August 2009. Read the speech here.
Interview with Brennan here. Comments in the LA Times and the WSJ.

UN Working Group on Mercenaries voices concerns on the use of PMSC’s, calls on Obama to change stance on use of contractors in interrogating people

A group of United Nations independent experts on mercenaries voiced concern yesterday over the limited scrutiny of private security contractors by the United States Government, calling on greater transparency to prevent impunity for human rights violations.

“The responsibility of the State to protect human rights does not stop with contracting or subcontracting,” the UN Working Group [...]