Update | The Week of November 27, 2017
Jeffrey Stein // 12/3/17 //
After North Korea tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile, President Trump criticized the regime and vowed to impose greater sanctions on the country (WaPo).
President Trump’s waiver of the Jerusalem Embassy Act is set to expire, and how President Trump acts may signal his approach to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, write Scott R. Anderson & Yishai Schwartz at Lawfare.
The Justice Department’s recent indictments of three Chinese nationals for hacking signal the countries’ different view of commercial espionage, explain Jack Goldsmith & Robert D. Williams at Lawfare.
The Cyber Diplomacy Act of 2017 puts the State Department in a better position to protect security in cyberspace and promote digital communications (Lawfare).
A bill under consideration in Congress could significantly expand the NSA’s surveillance power, writes Neema Singh Guliana at the ACLU.
The proposal to close the “backdoor search loophole,” which allows the FBI to query information obtained under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, rests on incorrect premises about the data, writes Asha Rangappa at Just Security.
Different labels for the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar trigger different legal obligations and responses, writes Sahar Khan at Cato.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced stepped-up efforts to address the opioid crisis (WaPo).
- Read the press release here.
- This includes support for new legislation to strengthen DEA enforcement.
President Trump has pledged a new wave of major sanctions against North Korea in response to the country’s latest intercontinental missile test (WaPo, Politico).
- Hawaii is testing an attack warning signal in response to the launch.
- The WSJ Editorial Board writes that the U.S. and China still haven’t imposed the toughest sanctions.
Despite President Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s comments to the contrary, Iran’s actions are not a serious threat to U.S. security or interests and do not warrant ending the Iran nuclear agreement, writes John Glaser at WaPo.
President Trump is bringing U.S. foreign policy ‘back to Earth,’ writes Walter Russell Mead at WSJ.
Gun thefts lead to violent crime, but federal law makes it challenging to confront the problem, writes the Editorial Board of the L.A. Times.
The Supreme Court will not review a Maryland law banning assault weapons (WaPo).
The government should be investing in technology to counteract autonomous weapons, writes Nicholas Weaver at Lawfare.
Mental health professionals should engage with judges or politicians experiencing dementia within the bounds of the Goldwater Rule, which prevents psychiatrists from offering professional opinions without an exam and authorization to comment, writes Gail Katznelson.
The bipartisan letter sent to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urging immediate action to prevent Iran’s incursion into Syria through Hezbollah may reflect Democratic regrets surrounding the Iran nuclear deal, writes Andrew Lappin at The Hill.
A military contractor exposed highly classified data and software associated with an intelligence distribution platform (Ars Technica).
Talks aimed at ending the war in Syria resumed on Tuesday (Yahoo).
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson accused Russia of using “malicious tactics” against the United States and European allies (WaPo, L.A. Times).
A federal jury convicted Ahmed Abu Khatallah, the accused mastermind of the attacks in Benghazi, of terrorism, but not murder (L.A. Times, WSJ, NYT).
Vice President Pence commented that President Trump is ‘actively considering’ relocating the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem (WaPo).
A prominent Iraqi general was part of a scheme to cheat the State Department out of millions of dollars (WaPo).