Use of Force
The Rhetoric of Retaliation
The language we use to justify and describe legal constraints on personal conduct or grants of legal authority to our government is never totally free of bias, ambiguity, flawed premises, or unproveable assumptions. How we fix, manipulate, or comport ourselves to...
“Over-the-Horizon Operations” in Afghanistan
The United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan has rightly dominated the world’s attention. The suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 26th, resulting in the loss of 10 Marines, 2 Army Soldiers, 1 Navy Corpsman, and 170 Afghan civilians, will...
Afghanistan and Noncombatant Evacuation Operations
Last month, President Biden announced the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan would officially conclude by August 31, 2021. Since the drawdown of U.S. and other international forces from Afghanistan began in May, the Taliban has made rapid gains across the...
Terminological Precision and International Cyber Law
The recent spate of hostile cyber operations by States, non-State groups affiliated with States, and non-State groups operating on their own has resulted in a cacophony of pronouncements and commentary by political leaders, pundits, journalists, and legal experts. As...
When Corporations Take Offensive Measures Against States
Cyberattacks are increasingly inundating the private sector, and most States are unable or unwilling to provide adequate protection against these attacks. To mitigate this challenge, numerous corporations acknowledge that they have engaged in some form of active cyber...
The Legitimate Aims of Self-Defense
The United States' strike on Iranian-backed militias along the Syria-Iraq border on February 25 and the accompanying justifications, communications, and explanations have produced a flurry of legal discourse across the blogosphere and social media (here, here and...
President Biden’s First Use of Force and International Law
On February 25, President Biden authorized the first use of military force since becoming President. The operation involved two F-15s dropping seven 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) bombs on a grouping of buildings at a Syria-Iraq border crossing....
The UN Soleimani Report and the U.S. Article 51 Notification
On July 9, 2020, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions released a report on the legality of targeted killing by drone strikes. The backdrop for the report is the U.S. strike against Qasem Soleimani on January 2, 2020. And,...