What We're Reading!

Hello Lawfare Patreon Subscribers,

Here is what we’re reading this week:

Editor in Chief Benjamin Wittes is reading “Restoring Justice: The Speeches of Attorney General Edward H. Levi” as part of a research project into Edward Levi's tenure as attorney general during the Gerald Ford administration. He also recommends Daniel Richman and Sarah Seo's recent Lawfare article, "Toward a New Era for Federal and State Oversight of Local Police."

Lawfare Senior Editor Scott R. Anderson has been reading this tribute to the late William Hays Parks, one of the most influential legal experts on the law of armed conflict of the twentieth century, by Gary Solis that recently appeared in the “Articles of War” blog for West Point’s Lieber Institute. Parks’s influence as both a scholar and policymaker is hard to overstate, and the article is a fascinating tribute to his exceptional life. Anderson has also been listening to “Day X,” a new podcast from the team behind The Daily at the New York Times, which does a deep dive into a 2017 plot in which a German military officer posing as a Syrian refugee was charged with planning acts of terrorism with the goal of triggering a collapse of the German state and rise of a new right-wing government.

Senior Editor Quinta Jurecic is enjoying this New York Times piece on how the Museum of Modern Art lost a house and then found it again. On a more serious note, she's been reading this jarring RollCall article on the strain that the assault on the Capitol—and Republican efforts to deny that the riot happened—has caused for staffers on the Hill. For those who work in Congress, the decision by many Republicans to play down the horror of the day feels personal: The article quotes one staffer as saying, “When I see those members in the hallway or the basement, I think to myself that they wouldn’t care if I was dead."

Senior Editor Alan Rozenshtein is reading this New York Times article that details the American Civil Liberties Union’s identity crisis.

Managing Editor Jacob Schulz is reading a Digiday story about the growing role of brand safety standards as a check on platforms’ content moderation choices. The piece does a nice job of highlighting that other private companies—in this case, those firms who may want to pay Facebook or Twitter for digital ads—can have real influence over the content moderation ecosystem.

Fellow in Cybersecurity Law Alvaro Marañon is reading an article in WIRED that dives deep into how "Deepfake Maps Could Mess With Your Sense of the World." The risks with such advancements have hinted at scenarios where a government could manipulate the layout of a satellite image to either distill misinformation around their weapon installations or justify military action. Fortunately, researchers and others are finding ways to combat this potential threat.

Associate Editor Rohini Kurup is listening to “The Line,” a new narrative podcast about Eddie Gallagher, the former Navy SEAL who was charged in 2018 with war crimes. It’s a fascinating look at the realities of fighting a forever war as well as the moral boundaries that get distorted in war and what that does to the people who fight in them.

Associate Editor Bryce Klehm is reading a New York Times dispatch from Afghanistan titled, “A Siege, a Supply Run and a Descent Into a Decade-Old Battle.” This moving piece includes original reporting about the effects of the U.S. withdrawal in Afghanistan mixed in with a firsthand account of the war in Marja, Afghanistan. It's written by Thomas Gibbons-Neff, a New York Times reporter and former Marine infantryman who served in Marja in 2011.

Lawfare intern Matt Gluck is reading “Ratification,” Pauline Maier’s outstanding portrait of the debate preceding the country’s approval of the U.S. Constitution. Maier usefully illuminates the voices of many critics of the Constitution who are often given short shrift in narratives of the founding period. Matt is also reading a New Yorker article detailing U.S. efforts to investigate the Havana Syndrome. Though the condition continues to severely harm U.S. officials, there’s been little progress on getting to the bottom of it.

Lawfare’s Quote of the Week

From "Toward a New Era for Federal and State Oversight of Local Police" by Daniel Richman and Sarah Seo: "Widespread protest movements have changed history before. Yet lasting change often is made not in moments of historic legislative enactments, but in the days after, in the practices of government officials that, over time, become institutionalized. George Floyd’s namesake bill has the potential to reform local police by changing the oversight assignments of state and federal officials—if they follow through with their legislative mandate."

From the Lawfare Vault

May 4, 2020: "Is a Major Change to Military Justice in the Works?" by Michel Paradis

Oct. 16, 2020: "Avoiding Another McGahn: Options to Modernize Congress's Subpoena Compliance Tools" by Grant Tudor

Thank you!