The Just Security Podcast

The Trump administration’s unprecedented federalization of policing in Washington, D.C. raises significant legal and policy questions about the Executive Branch’s power over the Metropolitan Police Department and the use of National Guard forces from D.C. and other states, among other pressing topics. To break down the latest developments, host David Aaron is joined by Brian Netter, Legal Director at Democracy Forward and former De...

This week, the Trump administration took over command of the D.C. police department, and surged federal law enforcement officers and National Guard units into the city. While the United States has a long tradition of leaving most policing to state and local agencies, federal law enforcement has specific powers, and there are well-established limits on the use of military forces for domestic law enforcement, but the rules for DC are...

Ukraine’s response to the 2022 full-scale Russian invasion has been defined by extraordinary civilian mobilization. As millions of Ukrainians face the devastation of their homes, schools, and communities, volunteers—especially women—have stepped up in unprecedented ways to support the nation’s survival. 

In this episode, host Viola Gienger is joined by Lauren Van Metre, President and CEO of Women in International Security (WIIS) and...

Yesterday, the White House released its long-awaited AI Action Plan and signed three executive orders on AI, laying out the Trump administration’s strategy to secure what it calls “unquestioned and unchallenged” U.S. dominance across the entire AI tech stack. Framing AI as a global race for technological supremacy, the Plan envisions nothing short of an industrial revolution, an information revolution—and even a renaissance—al...

The massive budget bill that passed this month allocates tens of billions of dollars to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Homeland Security Investigation (HSI). The influx of funding of that scope and size will significantly expand the role DHS and immigration enforcement agencies play in American life.

What are the the institutional constraints on the FBI and law enforcem...

President Donald Trump this week put weapons behind his growing irritation with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intransigence on negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Meeting at the White House with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, President Trump announced that the United States will work with European allies in NATO to send advanced weapon systems, including Patriot missile batteries, to Ukraine. He also threatened tariffs...

In a picturesque valley in the mountains of eastern Bosnia, thousands of white gravestones bear witness to a mass atrocity that still struggles for a place in Europe’s conscience. Nearly 8,400 names are etched into a stone memorial, a stark reminder of the Srebrenica Genocide committed by Bosnian Serb forces against Bosnian Muslims in July 1995 – 30 years ago this year. And yet, too many political leaders and others continue denyin...

Today, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) delivered its highly anticipated judgement in the case of Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia–a watershed moment in international human rights law. 

In this episode, Just Security Executive Editor and professor at American University Washington College of Law Rebecca Hamilton, and Just Security editorial board member and professor of International Law at the Fletcher School of Law &...

Iran’s nuclear program has long been a source of international tension. Early in U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, hopes for a diplomatic resolution resurfaced—until June, when Israel launched strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites. Days later, the United States joined the conflict, bombing three sites within Iran. Iran retaliated with missile attacks in Israel and a U.S. base in Qatar, and suspended cooperation wit...

The leaders of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance, just finished their annual Summit in The Hague in The Netherlands, as Ukraine continues its existential fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion that began more than three years ago. That invasion, preceded six years earlier by the capture of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine, set off the biggest war in Europe since World War II. 

How do Ukrainian leaders see the outcome o...

Over the past several days, the Trump administration has taken increasingly drastic steps in response to protest activity and unrest in Los Angeles — including federalizing 4,000 National Guard troops and sending hundreds of Marines, against the objections of California’s state and local leadership. 

As events unfold on the ground in LA, and in the lead-up to further anticipated protests this weekend, Just Security and the Reiss Cen...

In recent years, the United States has sustained some of the most severe cyber threats in recent history– from the Russian-government directed hack SolarWinds to China’s prepositioning in U.S. critical infrastructure for future sabotage attacks through groups like Volt Typhoon. The Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is responsible for responding to, and protecting against these attacks.  

How do leaders steer throug...

For nearly 70 years, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division led efforts to protect voting rights and fight racial discrimination at the polls. But in January 2025, DOJ political appointees froze all new civil rights cases and dismissed every major pending voting rights lawsuit—prompting most career attorneys to leave the Division. 

With federal challenges to restrictive voting laws now dropped in several states, the fight for voting rights...

The State Department has released a reorganization plan that would usher in significant changes to the way the United States conducts its diplomacy and foreign assistance, at a time of considerable geopolitical change. Proposals by the Trump administration include eliminating or restructuring a number of the Department’s longstanding functions, dissolving and/or folding USAID into State, and imposing large budget and staffing cuts....

As the Supreme Court holds oral arguments on Thursday, May 15, Kristin A. Collins, Gerald Neuman and Rachel E. Rosenbloom argue that Executive Order 14160, which denies birthright citizenship to any child born in the United States who does not have at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, clearly violates the birthright citizenship federal statute.  They note the statute has not received as much publi...

Now in its third year, the Russo-Ukraine War has upended the post-Cold War security landscape, exposing deep fractures in the global balance of power. 

As western unity frays and U.S. diplomacy shifts under President Trump, the war has become a flashpoint for competing visions of the international order. 

This week, the European Union gave Russia an ultimatum: accept a proposed ceasefire or face expanded sanctions—just days ahead of ...

On Friday, May 9, senior White House official Stephen Miller said: "The Constitution is clear, and that, of course, is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended at a time of invasion. So I would say that’s an action we’re actively looking at." CNN later reported that President Donald Trump has been personally involved in discussions in the administration over potentially...

An audio of Ilya Somin's Just Security article, which has become more topical by the day. The title: "What Just Happened: The Invasion Executive Order and Its Dangerous Implications." Somin is a Professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, and author of Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration and Political Freedom (Oxfo...

May 3rd marks World Press Freedom Day. This year especially, press freedom is under threat in the United States from a range of directions: from hostile official rhetoric and actions to self-censorship and systemic appeasement, to just basic information overload. As the Trump administration continues to “flood the zone,” how can we assess individual developments to discern broader trends that might help us better understand what’s ...