How is U.S. military killing these 11 people keeping drugs (fentanyl) out of the United States? USG knew the drugs (cocaine) were headed to Suriname. Yes, that's the OTHER DIRECTION. Read what Bradley-Caine told lawmakers: Scoop by @natashabertrand.bsky.social 🧵 1/

The Trump administration has quietly released its National Security Strategy — apparently late on Thursday. Usually there's a rollout and fanfare for these things: www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

This really lays bare how absurd the manufactured war theory is: A shipwrecked survivor of a Hellfire missile strike on his small burning vessel is supposed to do... what, exactly, to show he is not "in the fight"? When there is no war, applying the law of war is an exercise in absurdity. 1/2

8/ A public service reminder: This entire exercise is an absurd, imaginary world for legal experts. That's because the truth is: It's not an armed conflict. The laws of war thus don't apply. The more restrictive rules of human rights apply. It's extrajudicial killing under that law.

6/ This next point gets deeper into some legal weeds, but law of war experts will know exactly what I mean. The fact that the DOJ/USG wants to call these cocaine boats legitimate "war-sustaining" military targets, makes this new explanation fall apart.

One reason to eschew the term "war crime" for the September 2nd maritime attack is that the Trump admin claims (likely falsely) that the people aboard the boat were members of Tren de Aragua. USG's bogus claims about armed conflict with TdA also feed narrative for using the Alien Enemies Act.

Former US military lawyers speak out: "The Former JAGs Working Group unanimously considers both the giving and the execution of these orders, if true, to constitute war crimes, murder, or both." Statement on Media Reports of Pentagon “No Quarter” Orders in Caribbean Boat Strikes 1/2

Harvard Law School’s Jack Goldsmith: “In short, if the Post’s facts are correct, it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the ‘two men were blown apart in the water, as the Post put it.’” open.substack.com/pub/executiv...

I worked these issues with Todd. He knows what he’s talking about. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

If the U.S. was at war, Pete Hegseth's order would be a war crime, a military lawyer said. Instead, it might just be murder. wapo.st/49KbUJ1

Textbook war crime/extrajudicial killing "Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck. The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack ... ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions." Report by @alexhorton.bsky.social @ellenwapo.bsky.social o.bsky.social

On the patently unlawful boat strikes It's hard for USGs to claim ‘mistake of law’ or ‘advice of counsel’ – when they’re firing lawyers who wouldn't sign off on the strikes. WaPo's new revelations on firings or removals: 1) CIA General Counsel 2) NSC Legal Adviser 3) CIA Mission Center’s lawyer 🧵

There it is. And as expected, overruled by OLC’s “Murder Memo.” www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...

The facts are complicated, but here’s a summary of what appears to have happened based on the filings and today’s hearing:

I had the honor of speaking on a recent panel about the boat strikes with Laura Dib (WOLA), Brian Finucane (Crisis Group), Katherine Yon Ebright (Brennan Center for Justice), and Amanda Klasing (Amnesty Int.). This is the most comprehensive discussion I have yet seen on the topic. Please share.

The lawless killing spree at sea continues.

From Stewardship to Transformation: Toward a Nuclear Enterprise for the 21st Century Note: some very interesting tidbits. A must read for all nuclear wonks! www.osti.gov/servlets/pur...

I think the US tech advantage is just extremely brittle, especially if US foreign policy remains this dumb

One of many costs to US murder (sorry, no better word for it) in Caribbean: "United Kingdom is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal."

The AP tracked down details of some of the people killed in President Trump's military strikes on drug smugglers he describes as narco-terrorists. They were, with one exception, not high-level criminals. One was a fisherman. One was a bus driver; another a taxi driver. apnews.com/article/trum...

Latest Trump comments on nuclear testing from CBS suggest he's latched onto the zero-yield controversy; State Department compliance reports in 2021 accused Russia of conducting "experiments" that generated "nuclear yield" (not so for China) www.cbsnews.com/news/read-fu...

Q: Are you talking about literally resuming underground..tests? A: You'll find out very soon. But were gonna do some testing.. Other countries do.. If they're gonna.., we're gonna.. Q: Ok but you can't clarify whether you'll resume.. A: I'm not gonna say yet. I know exactly what we're doing..

This three-hops theory is especially insane. Even if you assume each person is connected to only 100 other people, there are 1m people within three hops of every suspected drug trafficker—and remember that even *known* drug traffickers aren’t legitimate targets. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/u...

Correct: “one thing that seems to get overlooked is that the United States has benefited from a test ban as much as anyone else. Consequently, bringing the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty into force would lock in an American advantage in nuclear knowledge and expertise”

The @statedeptus.bsky.social 2021 "compliance report" is the most detailed unclassified statement on Russian, Chinese nuclear testing. DIA said something similar in 2019. Russia is directly accused of low-yield testing, while there are only concerns about Chinese transparency.

Looking back years from now we may find that yesterday’s meeting between Trump and Lee Jae Myung was a major milestone in South Korea developing nuclear weapons. Korea seems closer than ever to closing the nuclear fuel cycle and securing enrichment capability. www.chosun.com/english/nati...

NEW: President Trump says he has instructed the DOD to begin testing nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with Russia and China. It’s unclear what this means since Russia and China are not currently conducting nuclear tests and the DOD does not conduct testing for the US (it’s the DOE that does).

-Putin has been touting tests of Skyfall and Poseidon this week. (The tests were of nuke-powered, nuke delivery systems-not live warhead detonations) -The Dept of War isnt responsible for nuke explosive testing. Thats DoEs job. -The "renovation of existing weapons" continues.

I hope that someone who is able to get a response out of Anthropic about anything can get them to respond directly to Claude being used by Rafael. Not only do they explicitly ban weapon development in their TOS, the company has lofty claims about its IHL principles www.anthropic.com/news/claudes...

That's incorrect, and thus they're overlooking the best argument for why Trump had no authority to deploy the National Guard in L.A. More here: www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...

The DOJ misled the 9th Circuit on the issue that likely swayed Judge Bade to rule for the Trump administration on the NG deployment. Astonishing. Kudos to Judge Immergut for highlighting the new filing.

He’s been doing it, he’s been saying he’s going to keep doing it. This isn’t new, but it’s still pretty stark to hear isn’t it.

This is chilling. The President is asserting authority to kill completely outside of the law. And plans to keep at it. We are not at war, and he is ignoring the criminal laws that actually apply (eg, murder). No limiting principle stops him from doing this to others he labels "terrorists." 1/3

By a 2-1 opinion, the Ninth Circuit just held that the president can federalize the National Guard forces and deploy them when protesters shine flashlights in the eyes of ICE officers. It’s one of the most dangerous and legally flawed court decisions I’ve seen this year. 1/23

The Inspector General system is basically broken now. Most IGs have been fired, most positions remain vacant. Those who remain or would take the job pose no risk to holding the regime accountable. Congress added more barriers to Trump firing IGs after his first term. He just ignored them.

Just a reminder that "en banc" review in the Ninth Circuit is ... unique. The full court (29 active judges, currently with a 16-13 D-R split) votes on whether or not to rehear a case en banc. If so, then *10* judges are randomly drawn to sit with Chief Judge Murguia as the "en banc" court.

In fact, the US is not exercising its right of self-defense. There has been no armed attack nor threat of an imminent armed attack on the US. Drug smuggling doesn't count. And so far, USG has not sent an Article 51 letter to UNSC. (Also, deadly flow of drugs to US ain't coming from these boats.)

Key questions for press: What is the president’s legal authority to detain? (There is none.) Given the claim that this is armed conflict, will the ICRC have access to these people? What are the conditions of confinement? What is your plan here — prosecute, release, endless detention? And where?

Reportedly a 6th lawless US strike in the Caribbean. This time reportedly with survivors. If true, will the US military rescue the survivors? Will the US military seek to detain the survivors, and if so, on what legal basis? A phony war with real violence. www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...

The U.S. military has destroyed five boats it has alleged were ferrying drugs into the U.S., killing 27 people. No authority has publicly released the names of any of the dead. One family is believed to be the first to publicly say they believe a relative is among those who were killed.

There is no conceivable argument that these ships, even if we assume they were carrying narcotics, could not be dealt with in some other way. I think we can just drop the caveats and say: This is mass murder.

Further premeditated, lawless killing in the Caribbean. Making at least five such US strikes. Against unidentified "narcoterrorists" affiliated w/ an unspecified "designated terrorist organization" allegedly trafficking unspecified narcotics. POTUS is asserting a license to kill outside the law.

Reading this now. It’s the opinion explaining the reason for granting a TRO (the order came out yesterday) against the National Guard deployment in Illinois. It begins with a quote from Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist Papers against the idea.

NEW: @CDCgov hit hard by massive firings that several staff describe to me as a “bloodbath.” Among those RIFd: —leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases; —leadership of global health center —leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4

You’ll never guess who is in charge of the Homeland Security Council…. (Miller. It’s Stephen Miller.)

The US government is undergoing a "rapid scheduled disassembly" that was described in great detail in a 900 page book called "Project 2025" that Russ Vought was instrumental in producing and which Trump falsely claimed he knew nothing about on the campaign trail. knowyourmeme.com/memes/rapid-...

At 11am I will try to live-blog, for @lawfaremedia.org , the hearing in Abrego Garcia’s civil (habeas corpus) case in federal court in Greenbelt MD. Abrego is seeking release from detention under a SCOTUS precedent called Zadvydas v Davis (2001). ... /1 tile.loc.gov/storage-serv...

BREAKING: Federal judge issues TRO following a second day of hearings, blocking the Trump administration from “ordering the federalization and deployment of the National Guard of the United States within Illinois” from now through Oct. 23. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

#BREAKING A federal judge say she will grant "in part" a request by the state of Illinois for a temporary restraining order against the deployment of National Guard troops into the state. U.S. District Judge April Perry is still ruling and has not outlined the details of her order.