Secure Liberties Newsletter
Covering War, Peace, and Everything in Between
TOP LINE
Dozens of organizations tell Congress to introduce a War Powers Resolution in response to Biden’s Syria strike. Yesterday, organizations spanning the ideological spectrum sent a letter to Congress urging an immediate introduction of a War Powers Resolution to rebuke the Biden Admin for its February 25 strike on targets in Syria, which was not authorized by Congress. The letter pushes back on Biden’s legal justification for the strike, warning that it could set a precedent to greatly expand unilateral executive military action in the future. Read Vox’s exclusive on the letter.
Surveillance Firm Hopes to Sell Access to Billions of Connected Cars’ Data to the US Government, per Vice. This is a sign that the just-started debate around the government’s commercial access to data will continue to escalate, on the other side of revelations that the government is turning to data brokers to buy information for which it would otherwise need a court order.
The US-backed Saudi blockade of Yemen causing immense suffering, a new CNN investigation reveals. The report shows that 14 tankers, carrying fuel needed to transport humanitarian relief and to keep hospitals full of starving children running, have been prevented from entering Yemen’s main port of Hodeidah since December by the US-backed Saudi coalition. The United Nations World Food Programme continues to warn that millions of Yemenis are “knocking on famine’s door.” While the Biden Administration announced it would end support for Saudi Arabia’s “offensive operations” last month — there has been no further information on the steps the US has taken to end its support for the war.
It’s Been a Year(!): PATRIOT Act sunset panel with former Sen. and SSCI member Mark Udall, Rep. and HJC Chairman Bob Goodlatte — Wednesday, March 24, at 11 am. Details and RSVP here.
ARMS, INTEL, and NDAA
53 lawmakers call for a significantly reduced Defense budget. Representatives Lee, Pocan, and Auchincloss led a letter to President Biden asking for a topline defense budget cut for Fiscal Year 2022, to “end the forever wars,” and to “re-orient towards a holistic conception of national security that centers public health, climate change, and human rights.” While the letter did not indicate a specific number, Representative Lee and Pocan previously pushed for a 10 percent reduction in last year’s budget. Current reports indicate that Biden’s budget request will remain relatively unchanged from last year’s budget.
We actually have 1,000 more troops in Afghanistan than we previously thought. The New York Times reports that previously undisclosed Special Operations units operating in Afghanistan have been left out of official troop count — which the Defense Department has admitted is a common practice.
This further complicates a US withdrawal from Afghanistan. During an interview on Wednesday Biden said a May 1 deadline to pull all U.S. troops from the country would be “tough.” Last week, two leaked documents revealed that Biden is pursuing its own peace plan, however neither of the documents discussed a plan for US withdrawal.
As the 18th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq approaches, Congress may finally scrap the 2002 AUMF. Rep. Gregory Meeks, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced that debate will begin in the coming weeks on repealing the 2002 Authorization of Military Force (AUMF), which Congress passed nearly two decades ago to greenlight the Iraq War. Last year, the Trump Administration used the 2002 AUMF as justification for the assasination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. The Biden Administration has indicated that it would work with Congress to repeal both the 2002 and 2001 AUMFs, and replace them with narrower authorizations, though it is unclear what a replacement would look like.
The latest interview with Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, clarifies a few things. In an interview published by Politico, Zarif outlined three major points: Iran’s desired sequencing of a US return to JCPOA compliance, which starts with an executive order from Biden; the possibility of negotiating a universal prisoner swap; and openness to discussing US concerns beyond nuclear issues, but only after the US has “passed the test” of the JCPOA.
SURVEILLANCE
Title says it all: “Massive camera hack exposes the growing reach and intimacy of American surveillance,” but the article is also worth the read. As Andrew Ferguson, a law professor at AU explains: “We are building networks of surveillance we cannot escape from without really thinking about the consequences. Our desire for some fake sense of security is its own security threat.”
Mijente, NorCal Resist, others sue Clearview AI for “widespread collection of California residents’ images and biometric information without notice or consent.” Sounds about right. The LA Times has the story here, and the complaint is here.
Abolition and the War on Terror: This thought-provoking piece argues that the Trump administration’s designation of Antifa as a terrorist organization, plus law enforcement use of weapons from the War on Terror, reveal a deep, difficult connection. In response, the author argues, “we need to void the category of terrorism completely.”
Relatedly, and ICYMI from 2015, one review concluded that 317 of 580 terrorism prosecutions from 2001-2015 involved an informant, pointing toward entrapment and devastating impacts, in particular within communities of color.
RELEVANT, TOO
Book Review: The Precarious State of War Powers
Nomination for ODNI general counsel: Christopher Fonzone. Per his Sidley profile, he’s got experience advising on “national security issues, including… encryption…”
ODNI declassified the assessment of foreign threats to the 2020 elections
Axios: “Perfect cybersecurity is a pipe dream”
Military Unit That Conducts Drone Strikes Bought Location Data From Ordinary Apps
Biden Secretly Limits Counterterrorism Drone Strikes Away From War Zones
Remote C.I.A. Base in the Sahara Steadily Grows
BOTTOM LINE
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