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 implemented through legislation by Congress. This application of the covert action statute in practice is illuminated through a case study of the legal issues surrounding the Osama bin Laden raid.
Tag Archives: Central Intelligence Agency
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 from the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights.
CIA and the Rule of Law
For those working at the confluence of law and national security, the President has made clear that ours is a nation of laws, and that an abiding respect for the rule of law is one of our country’s greatest strengths, even against an enemy with only contempt for the law. This is so for the Central Intelligence Agency no less than any other instrument of national power engaged in the fight against al Qaeda and its militant allies or otherwise seeking to protect the United States from foreign adversaries. And that is the central point of this piece: 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.