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 [...]

CCR sues ‘Guantanamo North’ detention facilities in Aref et al v. Holder

NPR has a story about the “Communications Management Units” in Terre Haute, Ind., and Marion, Ill. The special detention unit in Terre Haute contains 50 cells housing some of the people the U.S. describes as the “country’s biggest security threats”, including John Walker Lindh. The units’ population has included men convicted in well-known post-Sept. 11 [...]

Federal judge dismisses government surveillance suit for lack of standing

[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California granted summary judgment Monday in favor of the government in CCR v. Obama, ruling that the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) lacked standing to challenge the legality of information obtained by Bush-era warrantless surveillance programs. CCR argued that the Terrorist Surveillance [...]

DC Circuit: No need to release full info on high value detainees (ACLU v. U.S. Dep’t of Def)

(ASIL) The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has upheld a lower court ruling in favor of the U.S. government regarding the release of documents related to fourteen “high value” detainees held at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay. The request for the release of the documents was filed by the [...]

New JSOC centre must oversee growing use of special anti-terrorism operations

AP reports that the Obama administration has ramped up its secret war on terror groups with a new military targeting center to oversee the growing use of special operations strikes against suspected militants in hot spots around the world. Run by the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command, the new center would be a significant step [...]

Israeli High Court Justices deny petition requesting Shin Bet statistics about extent of regulation

The Israeli High Court of Justice denied on Tuesday a petition filed against the Shin Bet and the Prime Minister’s Office requesting information regarding the extent to which a regulation preventing Palestinian detainees from consulting with an attorney is being applied. The High Court justices agreed with the State’s stance that revealing such information has [...]

JASON: Science of Cyber Security Needs More Work

Secrecy News reports that the JASON defense advisory panel has just produced a new report (pdf) on the science of cyber security. The JASON report began by noting that “A science of cyber security has to deal with a combination of peculiar features that are shared by no other area of study.” “First, the background [...]

Mohamed et al. v Jeppesen DataPlan, Inc – Petition for Certiorari

The American Civil Liberties Union late last night asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court decision dismissing its lawsuit against a Boeing subsidiary, Jeppesen DataPlan, Inc., for the company’s role in the Bush administration’s extraordinary rendition program. The ACLU and the ACLU of Northern California filed the lawsuit in May 2007 on [...]

District court dismisses Al-Aulaqi v. Obama

(ASIL) The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has dismissed a civil action filed on behalf of Anwar Al-Aulaqi, a dual U.S.-Yemeni citizen and an alleged al Qaeda supporter, currently hiding in Yemen. Al-Aulaqi’s father asked the U.S. court to issue an injunction prohibiting the U.S. government from executing an “unlawfully authorized targeted [...]

US Surveillance Court Issues New Rules of Procedure

Secrecy News reports that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which reviews government applications for domestic intelligence surveillance, issued new rules to govern its proceedings. In general, the rules update past Court procedures to reflect passage of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which expanded government surveillance authority. ACLU comments here.