Child separation & int. law; surprise nuke attack; What Plum Island is really like, and more

“Zero tolerance” and the detention of children: Torture under international law (Meg Satterthwaite and Rebecca Riddell, Just Security)
There has been widespread shock and dismay at the Trump administration’s policy of “zero tolerance” enforcement of criminal penalties for irregular border crossing—even against asylum-seekers—and its most extreme element, the separation of families and the incarceration of children. The criminalization of seeking asylum is unethical; the forced separation of families is abhorrent; and the intentional deployment of the suffering of children is especially vile. But it is also illegal under refugee and human rights law binding on the United States. And President Donald Trump’s new Executive Order does not fix the problem. Here’s why.

Trump’s zero tolerance immigration policy leaves no room for discretion (Barbara McQuade, Lawfare)
Despite President Trump’s rhetoric of law and order, his “zero tolerance” policy on immigration ignores what may be the most important component of effective law enforcement—prosecutorial discretion. To promote deterrence, Justice Department lawyers have been directed to prosecute every single case of illegal entry referred to them, regardless of the circumstances. Although children are no longer being separated from their families, the zero-tolerance policy appears to still be in place. But this one-size-fits-all approach is a radical departure from the Department of Justice’s normal practice of using prosecutorial discretion in making charging decisions. And it is an approach that rarely delivers justice.

Immigrant children forcibly injected with drugs, lawsuit claims (Matt Smith and Aura Bogado, Reveal)
President Donald Trump’s zero tolerance policy stands to create a zombie army of children forcibly injected with medications that make them dizzy, listless, obese and even incapacitated, according to legal filings that show immigrant children in U.S. custody subdued with powerful psychiatric drugs.

Email hacking: A constant threat to political aspirations (Lesley Clark and Tim Johnson, McClatchy)
Experts believe the phenomenon of email hacks will only grow as a barrier standing between political hopefuls and the offices they seek.

Prove it: Nuclear posture and the fear of surprise attack (Timothy McDonnell. War on the Rocks)
Writing recently in this forum, Lieutenant Commander Frank Nuño and Dr. Vaughn Standley highlighted the significant departure that the new Nuclear Posture Review makes from past practice: The document explicitly addresses the threat of surprise nuclear attack — “bolts from the blue.” Specifically, as Nuño and Standley note, the Nuclear Posture Review states that the United States “will maintain a portion of its nuclear forces on alert day-to-day, and retain the option of launching those forces promptly” to maximize decision time, preserve options, and deter potential adversaries from attempting a surprise first strike. (For the record, I also wrote on this subject before the document’s publication.)

More deceit uncovered in Iran deal (Weekly Standard)
On Wednesday morning, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), led by Senator Rob Portman, released a majority report reviewing the Obama administration’s communications and financial maneuverings with Iranian officials at the time of the Iran nuclear deal. The report, “Review of U.S. Treasury Department’s License to Convert Iranian Assets Using the U.S. Financial System,” reveals in fuller detail the duplicitous ways in which Obama administration sold the agreement.

Southern Poverty Law Center has been labeling Christian groups “extremist” — now they’re fighting back (Tre Goins-Phillips, IJR) The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) could soon be slapped with at least 60 lawsuits from organizations that the watchdog has labeled “hate groups” and “extremist.” Mat Staver, chairman of the conservative Liberty Counsel, said in a statement to PJ Media that he believes “a number” of organizations are considering legal action against the SPLC. “There are probably about 60 organizations that we’re talking to — there’s at least 60,” Staver explained. The potential lawsuits come after the group agreed to pay $3.375 million to Maajid Nawaz, a Muslim reformer whose organization, Quilliam Foundation, was labeled a “hate group” in the SPLC’s 2016 “Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists.”