Author name: Tyler Runge

Features, Online Edition

The Best Way to Honor Veterans: Decide Carefully About the Next War

Tony Carr*   As Congress returns for a lame-duck session that promises to be equal parts theatrical and unproductive, President Obama is making a promise of his own: to pursue a new Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) legitimizing action against ISIS. Notwithstanding the division and skepticism of the current political moment, the AUMF represents a critical opportunity to unify Americans around an important policy goal: grounding an unmoored foreign policy while reestablishing a public stake in matters of war and peace. Veterans Day is the perfect moment to begin a new conversation about how we decide upon […]

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The Case for Export Control Reform, and What it Means for America

By Brandt Pasco* A signature national security priority of President Barack Obama’s Administration, and an area that has generated rare broad-based bipartisan support, is export control reform.  At the request of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, in August 2009 President Obama directed the National Security Council and National Economic Council to jointly review the overall export control system.[1]  Now five years in the making, initial implementation of export control reform went into effect on October 15, 2013 with approximately 100 pages of new rules.[2]  Almost forty more pages of final rules took effect on January 6, 2014[3] with over 170

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Protecting Whistleblowers and Secrets in the Intelligence Community

Daniel D’Isidoro* Introduction Members of the intelligence community receive different whistleblower protections than most federal employees, in large part due to the classified nature of their work. Though recent reforms have sought to shore up whistleblower protections, regulatory gaps remain. The following piece explores some of those gaps through examples, and suggests reforms to address them. Needed reforms include providing financial incentives to whistleblowers who identify massive fraud or waste in government programs; giving employees an expedited means to lawfully report to Congress; and creating an Office of Special Counsel for the Intelligence Community to act as an advocate for

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Staying Strong: Enhancing Israel’s Essential Strategic Options

By Louis René Beres* In early 2014, Washington and Moscow competed openly for influence in Egypt: Putin even promised expansive arms packages to now-President Sisi. With this in mind, Sisi is apt to play the U.S. and Russia off against each other, a cold war strategy that has implications for Israel’s security doctrine, including perhaps its nuclear doctrine.(1) Israel operates within a global system(2) that appears to be falling back into some form of earlier bipolarity. This inchoate era may even devolve into a cold war between the US and Russia.(3) Jerusalem should consider this developing power shift in setting

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Ukraine’s Crisis Part 3: The Principle of Distinction and LOAC’s Key Goals

By Laurie R. Blank* This is the final article in a three-part series on the Ukrainian crisis’s implications and lessons for the international law of armed conflict. You can read Part 1 and Part 2 here.  Recent events in eastern Ukraine highlight the challenges of identifying the groups involved. Pro-Russian separatists, militants, pro-Ukrainian “street fighters”, nationalists, terrorists — many terms have been used in media reports. Many such groups wear no identifying uniform and others have deliberately covered or removed insignia that might shed light on their origins or loyalties. This mélange of groups and contradictory information raises numerous questions: who is fighting,

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Ukraine’s Crisis Part 2: LOAC’s Threshold for International Armed Conflict

Series Introduction  Following a new outbreak of violence in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, tensions in Ukraine and between Russia and the United States and NATO countries are high ahead of Ukraine’s presidential elections Sunday. Russian troops remain along Ukraine’s eastern border, notwithstanding Moscow’s promise of withdrawal. In this murky situation, however, it is crucial to rely on several foundational principles of international law to protect persons, sovereignty, and national security. The conflict in Ukraine demonstrates the importance of sustaining the strict separation between the law of armed conflict (LOAC) and the jus ad bellum, a low threshold for recognition of international armed

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