The Covert Action Statute: The CIA’s Blank Check?

MAJ Peter Combe argues that the covert action statute prohibits the Central Intelligence Agency from violating self-executing treaties to which the United States is party, as well as non-self-executing treaties and customary international law implemented by statute, but it provides domestic legal authority to violate non-self-executing treaties and customary international law that have not been… Continue reading The Covert Action Statute: The CIA’s Blank Check?

10 Standards for Oversight & Transparency of National Intelligence Services

Authors Sarah Eskens, Ott van Daalen, and Nico van Eijk present a set of 10 standards for oversight and transparency for surveillance by intelligence services. The authors approach these recommendations from the viewpoint of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and illustrate their implementation using cases… Continue reading 10 Standards for Oversight & Transparency of National Intelligence Services

CIA and the Rule of Law

Just as ours is a nation of laws, the CIA is an institution of laws, and the rule of law is integral to Agency operations. All intelligence activities of the Agency must be properly authorized pursuant to, and must be conducted in accordance with, the full body of national security law that has been put in place over the six-plus decades since the creation of the CIA.