Targeted killings are up in Yemen and military trials have resumed in Guantanamo. CFR's Matthew Waxman assesses the White House's evolving legal basis for its war on al-Qaeda.
Osama bin Laden's messages reached his followers and his opponents through multiple media channels. Research Links aims to provide researchers with a more comprehensive timeline of statements made by bin Laden between 1994 to 2011, as well as additional background information.
The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point released these documents on May 3, 2012. There are 17 declassified letters or draft letters from al-Qaeda leaders including Osama bin Laden; the letters were captured during the Abbottabad raid in Pakistan in May 2011.
This Georgetown Journal of International Law article conducts a historical survey of assassinations and targeted killings, following up with a legal analysis of the bin Laden killing as a precedent for future American counterterrorism operations.
Osama bin Laden's killing helped spawn a crisis in Pakistan and left tough al-Qaeda-affiliated movements in the Mideast and Africa, says CFR's Linda Robinson.
John O. Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, gave these remarks at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC on April 30, 2012.
The Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism was adopted in Warsaw, Poland on May 16, 2005.
This Congressional Research Service report outlines the background and history of recent Navy irregular warfare and counterterrorism activities, a number of which may pose critical oversight issues for Congress.
News of planned military trials for five 9/11 suspects underscores the Obama administration's need to more forcefully defend the necessity of military tribunals if they are to have legitimacy at home and abroad, says CFR's Matthew Waxman.
American drones have changed everything for al-Qaeda and its local allies in Pakistan, becoming a fact of life in a secret war that is far from over, writes Foreign Policy's Pir Zubair Shah.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published these recommendations on terrorist financing in October 2001. The report states, "Recognising the vital importance of taking action to combat the financing of terrorism, the FATF has agreed these Recommendations, which, when combined with the FATF Forty Recommendations on money laundering, set out".
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released its "Forty Recommendations" document in October 2003. The recommendations "now apply not only to money laundering but also to terrorist financing, and when combined with the Eight Special Recommendations on Terrorist Financing provide an enhanced, comprehensive and consistent framework of measures for combating money laundering and terrorist financing. "
This Congressional Research Servicereport details the background and issues surrounding Special Operations Forces (SOF), elite military units with special training and equipment that can infiltrate into hostile territory through land, sea, or air to conduct a variety of operations, many of them classified.
Authors: Peter Lampert Bergen and Jennifer Rowland
The CIA's drone program, while successful, has been largely unpopular in Pakistan. But drone strikes are decreasing since they peaked in 2010. Peter Bergen and Jennifer Rowland of CNNask: Is it because of politics or because we're running out of real targets?
The Washington Post profiles the head of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, who for six years has been architect of the agency's drone campaign, and has led its pursuit of Osama bin Laden. Surly and profane, he has outlasted three CIA directors and served two presidents.
The Council on Foreign Relations' David Rockefeller Studies Program—CFR's "think tank"—is home to more than seventy full-time, adjunct, and visiting scholars and practitioners (called "fellows"). Their expertise covers the world's major regions as well as the critical issues shaping today's global agenda. Download the printable CFR Experts Guide.
Special operations play a critical role in how the United States confronts irregular threats, but to have long-term strategic impact, the author argues, numerous shortfalls must be addressed.
The author analyzes the potentially serious consequences, both at home and abroad, of a lightly overseen drone program and makes recommendations for improving its governance.
An authoritative and accessible look at what countries must do to build durable and prosperous democracies—and what the United States and others can do to help. More
Through an in-depth analysis of modern Mexico, Shannon O'Neil provides a roadmap for the United States' greatest overlooked foreign policy challenge of our time—relations with its southern neighbor. More