Editor’s Note: We created two lists this year: one for the most read articles focused on the Russia investigation, and one for the most read articles on other national security topics. We want to highlight news and analysis that can otherwise be crowded out by coverage of the Russia investigation. The statistics used to generate these lists do not include republication of Just Security articles by our media partners. We are very grateful to our authors and readers, and hope you enjoy seeing these pieces.
Most Read 18 Articles of 2018 on National Security Topics in General (excluding Russia investigation)
1. Rob Berschinski and Ryan Goodman Warning Signs: President Trump May Violate Federal Law in Absolving Saudi Crown Prince
2. Can Yeginsu and John Williams, Criminalizing Speech to Protect Religious Peace? The European Human Rights Court Ruling in E.S. v. Austria
3. Meg Satterthwaite and Rebecca Riddell, “Zero Tolerance” and the Detention of Children: Torture under International Law
4. Rita Siemion and Kate Kizer, How Dangerous—and How New—Is the Defense Department’s “Collective Self-Defense” Theory?
5. Paul Seamus Ryan, The Campaign Finance Case Against Donald Trump is a Strong One: Just Ask John Edwards’ Prosecutors
6. Alonso Gurmendi Dunkelberg, Rebecca Ingber, Priya Pillai and Elvina Pothelet, Mapping States’ Reactions to the Syria Strikes of April 2018
7. Justin Hendrix, The Age of Unregulated Social Media Is Over—Now, how to avoid unintended consequences
8. Bob Bauer and Ryan Goodman, Setting the Record Straight: Brett Kavanaugh’s Views on Criminal Investigation of the President
9. Thomas Countryman, One Year Later — New Remarks by Senior State Dep’t Official Discharged by Trump
10. Kate Brannen and Spencer Ackerman, Exclusive: Trump White House’s Intelligence Chief Is Leaving
11. Walter Dellinger and Marty Lederman, Initial Reactions to OLC’s Opinion on the Whitaker Designation as “Acting” Attorney General
12. Rita Siemion, Two Important New Civilian Casualties Provisions in the Defense Authorization Bill
13. Julian Sanchez, Brand Loyalty
14. Alex Whiting, Why John Bolton vs. Int’l Criminal Court 2.0 is Different from Version 1.0
15. Geoff Curfman, ICC Jurisdiction and the Rohingya Crisis in Myanmar
16. Jack Goldsmith and Oona Hathaway, The Downsides of Bombing Syria
17. Mark Nevitt, The Military, the Mexican Border and Posse Comitatus: Four Key Takeaways
18. Kate Brannen, Exclusive: Mattis Drafting Specific Options for Using Defense Dollars to Pay for Trump’s Wall
Most Read 18 Articles of 2018 on Russia Investigation
1. Asha Rangappa, Five Questions the Nunes Memo Better Answer
2. Bob Bauer, The Charging Mystery in the Russia Indictments—And Its Indication of What Comes Next in the Mueller Investigation
3. Ryan Goodman, Russia “Previewed” Plan to Disseminate Emails with Trump Campaign–And how that’s legally significant
4. Ryan Goodman, Sessions’ Firing McCabe Violated His Promise to Recuse
5. Just Security, Timeline: Trump’s Acts of Accommodation/Engagement with Russia
6. Ryan Goodman, Paul Manafort = Evidence of Collusion
7. Ryan Goodman, Perjury Chart: Trump Associates’ Lies, False, or Misleading Statements on Russia to Federal Authorities
8. Bob Bauer and Ryan Goodman, Yes, Collusion: The Legal Significance of the New Mueller Revelations
9. Marty Lederman, A Quick Primer on the Legality of Appointing Matthew Whitaker as “Acting” Attorney General, and Whitaker’s Power to Influence the Russia Investigation
10. Marty Lederman, It is up to House Intel Committee, not Trump, whether to release Democratic memo on the Page FISA application
11. Ryan Goodman, House Intel Committee Findings Contradict Kushner’s Testimony
12. Andy Wright, Alex Whiting, Ryan Goodman and Kate Brannen, Six Big Takeaways from Mueller’s Indictment of Russian Intel Officers
13. Fred Wertheimer and Donald Simon, Sessions’ Recusal and Rosenstein’s Appointment of a Special Counsel—Both Were Legally Required
14. John Sipher, The Steele Dossier in 2018: Everyone’s Favorite Weapon
15. Alex Whiting, Why Dangling a Pardon Could Be an Obstruction of Justice—Even if the Pardon Power is Absolute
16. Julian Sanchez, On “Releasing The Memo”
17. Sam Berger, Mueller’s Choice of Criminal Charges: Why the Trump Team Should Be Very Worried
18. Ryan Goodman, What Could Michael Cohen Tell Mueller about Russia Collusion?