A New Work By Machiavelli

And it's in German

Good Evening:

I’m not sure this notice is entirely true.

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Today on #DogShirtTV, the estimable Holly Berkley Fletcher and I discussed Trump’s systematic destruction of the mechanisms of US soft power. We talked Voice of America, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and other essential institutions that we’re just going to have to do without from now on. Also, South Sudan and Seinfeld scams:

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Today On Lawfare

Compiled by the estimable Caroline Cornett

A Constitutional Basis to Avoid Congressional Testimony

Paul Colborn breaks down a September opinion by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) that argued Congress could not compel an executive official to suspend their duties to appear for a hearing because it would interfere with the president’s exclusive constitutional authority. Colborn suggests that the opinion—combined with a pattern of Supreme Court holdings affirming the president’s exclusive constitutional functions—could diminish congressional oversight of agencies:

This past December, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) published the legal opinion it provided to the State Department on Sept. 23, providing the rationale for the Justice Department conclusion contained in State’s letter to the committee. The opinion broke new ground in executive branch separation of powers jurisprudence regarding the executive branch’s response to congressional oversight. It established that there may be circumstances in which a congressional subpoena seeking to compel an executive branch official to suspend his or her current activities—undertaken on behalf of the president—in order to appear at a congressional hearing lacks legal force and effect. It reasoned that compelling testimony in such circumstances unconstitutionally interferes with the president’s authority to discharge his exclusive constitutional responsibilities.

The ‘Pacific Rim’ Campaign: Corporate Norm Entrepreneurship and Active Cyber Defense

Michael Genkin and Joe Devanny describe a four year campaign by cybersecurity company Sophos that culminated in Sophos acquiring threat-actor developed malware, as well as the controversy that ensued. Genkin and Devanny argue that Sophos’s campaign aligned with principles for responsible offensive cyber operations and discuss how Sophos’s transparency in its account of the campaign offers lessons about responsible behavior and active cyber defense:

There are three important ways in which Sophos’s disclosure of the Pacific Rim campaign advances the conversation on private-sector active cyber defense. First, it expands the scope of what should be considered “counter-cyber operations” by adding improvements to product resilience and cyber-enabled intelligence collection from adversary infrastructure in support of capability denial. Second, the thoughtful and responsible design of the campaign itself addresses a common concern about the risks of active cyber defense, namely, the need to reduce the risk of unintended side effects, such as misidentification or misattribution. Additionally, by focusing only on devices manufactured by Sophos and used to harm its customers and by collaborating closely with governmental partners, Sophos was able to avoid another common concern about active cyber defense regarding the appropriate authorization of such operations. Finally, in its granular and transparent disclosure, Sophos provided a case study that promotes better fact-based discussions and illuminates how companies can conduct such operations with a strong focus on ensuring their accountability.

Podcasts

On Lawfare Daily, Derek Thompson joins Renee DiResta and Kevin Frazier to discuss the theory of abundance and its feasibility in an age of political discord and institutional distrust:

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Today’s #BeastOfTheDay is Icarus II, a piglet who made history in 1909:

Afterburner reports:

On 4th November 1909 at Leysdown in Kent, the impossible became a fact. On this day, John Moore-Brabazon, made a short flight around the Thames Estuary, carrying a very special ‘passenger’ on board of his Short Brothers biplane.

Icarus II, as the passenger was called, was a piglet taken from a nearby pub. The young English aviator just tied a small wastepaper basket to a wing strut of the aeroplane, put the porcine aviation pioneer into the basket and finally performed a short, but historic flight.

According to the pilot and newspapers that reported the event, the first porcine aviator was calm and showed no stress during the flight. Shortly after, a picture of Icarus II sitting in the basket—with a funny note on it, saying ‘I am the first pig to fly’—spread the English newspapers…

Later, during the World War II, Moore-Brabazon was the British Minister of Transport and Minister of Aircraft Production.

The flight he performed in November of 1909, although being just a joke, did a lot for popularization of aviation and its advantages. It is usually recognized as the first cargo flight performed in the United Kingdom, as well as the first livestock cargo flight ever made. Not mentioning the beginning of porcine aviation, certainly.

In honor of today’s Beast, pick up a piglet from a nearby pub and go hog-wild.