{{short description|U.S. national security online multimedia publication}} {{Other uses|Lawfare (disambiguation)}} {{Use American English|date=January 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2019}} {{Infobox website | name = ''Lawfare'' | url = {{Official URL}} | commercial = No | type = Online multimedia publication | owner = The Lawfare Institute | editors = Benjamin Wittes<br>Roger Parloff | launch_date = September 1, 2010<ref name="lawfare history"/> | current_status = Active | location = Washington, D.C. }}{{Italic title}}
'''''Lawfare''''' is an American non-profit online multimedia publication dedicated to national security issues, produced by The Lawfare Institute in cooperation with the Brookings Institution.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Lawfare |url=https://www.lawfaremedia.org/about/about-lawfare |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241126193235/https://www.lawfaremedia.org/about/about-lawfare |archive-date=26 November 2024 |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=Lawfare |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Bazelon_3/14/2017">{{Cite news |last=Bazelon |first=Emily |author-link=Emily Bazelon |date=March 14, 2017 |title=How a Wonky National-Security Blog Hit the Big Time |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/magazine/how-lawfare-hit-the-big-time.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215080553/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/magazine/how-lawfare-hit-the-big-time.html |archive-date=15 December 2019 |access-date=March 14, 2017 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> It has received attention for articles on Donald Trump's first presidency.
== Background ==
''Lawfare'' was founded as a blog in September 2010<ref name="lawfare history">{{Cite news |date=May 14, 2015 |title=About Lawfare: A Brief History of the Term and the Site |url=https://www.lawfaremedia.org/about-lawfare-brief-history-term-and-site |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240401022202/https://www.lawfaremedia.org/about/our-story |archive-date=1 April 2024 |access-date=June 26, 2017 |work=Lawfare |language=en}}</ref> by Benjamin Wittes (a former editorial writer for ''The Washington Post''), Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith, and University of Texas at Austin law professor Robert Chesney.<ref name="Bazelon_3/14/2017" /> Goldsmith was the head of the Office of Legal Counsel in the George W. Bush administration's Justice Department, and Chesney served on a detention-policy task force in the Obama administration.<ref name="Bazelon_3/14/2017" /> Its contributors include legal scholars, law students, and former George W. Bush administration and Barack Obama administration officials.<ref name="Bazelon_3/14/2017" />
On June 28, 2023, Wittes said that ''Lawfare'' has become "a full-featured multimedia magazine."<ref name="Wittes_6/28/2023">{{Cite web |last=Wittes |first=Benjamin |author-link=Benjamin Wittes |date=June 28, 2023 |title=Welcome to ''Lawfare''{{'s}} Shiny New Website |url=https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/welcome-to-lawfare-s-shiny-new-website |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204165302/https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/welcome-to-lawfare-s-shiny-new-website |archive-date=4 December 2023 |access-date=January 9, 2024 |website=Lawfare}}</ref>
== Coverage of the first Donald Trump presidency ==
''Lawfare''{{'s}} coverage of intelligence and legal matters related to the Trump administration has brought the website significant increases in readership and national attention.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Abbruzzese |first=Jason |date=May 26, 2017 |title=This blog has become required reading in Trump's America |url=http://mashable.com/2017/05/26/ben-wittes-lawfare-blog/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206233727/https://mashable.com/article/ben-wittes-lawfare-blog |archive-date=6 December 2022 |access-date=June 29, 2017 |website=Mashable}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Roberts |first=Christopher |date=May 30, 2017 |title=Chesney's Lawfare Blog Makes Headlines, Reaches 10 Million People a Year |url=https://law.utexas.edu/news/2017/05/30/chesneys-lawfare-blog-makes-headlines-reaches-10-million-people-a-year/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241208100959/https://law.utexas.edu/news/2017/05/30/chesneys-lawfare-blog-makes-headlines-reaches-10-million-people-a-year/ |archive-date=8 December 2024 |access-date=June 29, 2017 |website=University of Texas at Austin School of Law |language=en-us}}</ref>
=== Executive Order 13769 ===
{{Main|Executive Order 13769|Reactions to Executive Order 13769}} In January 2017 President Donald Trump tweeted "LAWFARE" and quoted a line from one of its posts that criticized the reasoning in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that blocked Trump's first refugee-and-travel ban.<ref name="Bazelon_3/14/2017" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Nelson |first=Louis |date=10 February 2017 |title=Trump quotes legal blog to argue travel ban ruling is 'a disgraceful decision' |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-react-9th-circuit-ruling-travel-ban-234892 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213235113/https://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-react-9th-circuit-ruling-travel-ban-234892 |archive-date=13 February 2018 |access-date=March 14, 2017 |url-status=live |work=Politico}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Jackson |first=David |date=10 February 2017 |title=Trump rips 'disgraceful' court decision in immigration ban |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/10/donald-trump-travel/97735996/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250124081703/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/10/donald-trump-travel/97735996/ |archive-date=24 January 2025 |access-date=March 14, 2017 |work=USA Today |language=en}}</ref> The ''Lawfare'' piece called the ban "incompetent malevolence".<ref name="lawfare 9th circuit travel ban">{{cite web |last1=Wittes |first1=Benjamin |author1-link=Benjamin Wittes |title=How to Read (and How Not to Read) Today’s 9th Circuit Opinion |url=https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/how-read-and-how-not-read-todays-9th-circuit-opinion |website=Lawfare |access-date=19 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240314233710/https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/how-read-and-how-not-read-todays-9th-circuit-opinion |archive-date=14 March 2024 |date=9 February 2017}}</ref> Trump tweeted the excerpt minutes after the line was quoted on ''Morning Joe''.<ref name=":2" /> Wittes, who supported the court ruling, criticized Trump for the tweet, asserting that Trump distorted the argument presented in the article.<ref name=":1" />
=== Dismissal of FBI Director James Comey ===
{{Main|Dismissal of James Comey}} On May 18, 2017, ''Lawfare''{{'s}} editor-in-chief Benjamin Wittes was the principal source of an extensive ''New York Times'' report about President Trump's interactions with FBI Director James Comey, who is a friend of Wittes, and how those interactions related to Comey's subsequent firing.<ref name="nyt_2017-05-18">{{Cite news |last=Schmidt |first=Michael S. |author-link=Michael S. Schmidt |date=May 18, 2017 |title=Comey, Unsettled by Trump, Is Said to Have Wanted Him Kept at a Distance |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/18/us/politics/james-comey-memo-fbi-trump.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250212034323/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/18/us/politics/james-comey-memo-fbi-trump.html |archive-date=12 February 2025 |access-date=May 19, 2017 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Wittes also provided a 25-minute interview to ''PBS NewsHour'' on the same subject. According to him, Trump's hug "disgusted" Comey.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |last=Summers |first=Elizabeth |date=18 May 2017 |title=Comey 'disgusted' by Trump hug, considered White House 'not honorable,' friend says |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/comey-disgusted-trump-hug-considered-white-house-not-honorable-friend-says |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250207082625/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/comey-disgusted-trump-hug-considered-white-house-not-honorable-friend-says |archive-date=7 February 2025 |access-date=May 19, 2017 |work=PBS News Hour |url-status=live |language=en-US}}</ref> Wittes said Comey was not expecting a hug, adding "It was bad enough there was going to be a handshake."<ref name="nyt_2017-05-18" />
=== Trump's disclosure of classified intelligence ===
{{Main|Donald Trump's disclosure of classified information to Russia}} Several ''Lawfare'' contributors argued that Trump's reported disclosure of classified intelligence to Russia in mid-May 2017 was "perhaps the gravest allegation of presidential misconduct in the scandal-ridden four months of the Trump administration". The column further alleged that Trump's reported actions "may well be a violation of the President's oath of office".<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Goldsmith |first=Jack |author-link=Jack Goldsmith |last2=Hennessey |first2=Susan |last3=Jurecic |first3=Quinta |last4=Kahn |first4=Matthew |last5=Wittes |first5=Benjamin |author-link5=Benjamin Wittes |last6=Wittes |first6=Elishe Julian |date=May 15, 2017 |title=Bombshell: Initial Thoughts on the Washington Post's Game-Changing Story |url=https://www.lawfaremedia.org/bombshell-initial-thoughts-washington-posts-game-changing-story |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240314031624/https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/bombshell-initial-thoughts-washington-posts-game-changing-story |archive-date=14 March 2024 |access-date=May 19, 2017 |work=Lawfare |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Dubenko |first=Anna |date=May 16, 2017 |title=Right and Left React to Trump's Sharing Classified Information With Russia, and More |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/right-and-left-react-to-trumps-sharing-classified-information-with-russia-and-more.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231110162840/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/right-and-left-react-to-trumps-sharing-classified-information-with-russia-and-more.html |archive-date=10 November 2023 |access-date=May 19, 2017 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
== Reception ==
Columnist David Ignatius described ''Lawfare'' as "one of the most fair-minded chroniclers of national security issues".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ignatius |first=David |author-link=David Ignatius |date=May 16, 2017 |title=Trump's presidency is beginning to unravel |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-presidency-is-beginning-to-unravel/2017/05/16/e27aa366-3a7a-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180717172623/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-presidency-is-beginning-to-unravel/2017/05/16/e27aa366-3a7a-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html |archive-date=17 July 2018 |access-date=May 19, 2017 |work=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>
The website has been criticized by attorney and journalist Glenn Greenwald. He said it has a "courtier Beltway mentality" devoted to "serving, venerating and justifying the acts of those in power".<ref name="Bazelon_3/14/2017" />
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links==
* {{official website}} * {{ProPublicaNonprofitExplorer|462967640|Lawfare Institute}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:2010 establishments in the United States Category:Publications established in 2010 Category:Internet properties established in 2010 Category:National security of the United States Category:American legal websites