Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents is a series that provides primary source documents and expert commentary on various topics relating to the worldwide effort to combat terrorism, as well as efforts by the United States and other nations to protect their national security interests. Volume 142, Security Strategies of the Second Obama Administration: 2015 Developments, examines the major national security and military strategy documents released by the Obama administration during 2015: the National Security Strategy; the National Military Strategy; the National Intelligence Strategy; and the Department of Defense Cyber Strategy. This volume is intended as a sequel to Volume 137 of this series, which considered the de facto national security strategy of the Obama administration prior to the release of these documents. It is divided into four topical sections, each of which is introduced by a commentary written by series editor Douglas C. Lovelace, Jr. In addition to the documents listed above, this volume also contains recent reports analyzing those documents, as well as a legal update on the current status of the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) and a consideration of the War Powers Resolution.

Volume 105 of Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents, Narco-Terrorism, brings researchers up to date on U.S. and international efforts to stem terrorism related to drug trafficking. In the pages of this volume, readers will find both legal documents from criminal cases against narco-terrorists and governmental reports on how to approach the problem on a broader level. After showing recent trends in combating narco-terrorism globally, Volume 105 focuses on the rising drug crises in Colombia and Afghanistan. Researchers will find in this volume not just U.S. agencies' major reports on international drug-trafficking but also similarly comprehensive reports from international organizations, from NGOs to the U.N. These reports place a particular focus on the connection between terrorist activity and the global narcotics trade. The section on Colombia, while updating readers on the international struggle with that country's drug cartels, also includes an analysis of the political, diplomatic, and economic challenges in intervening there. The Afghanistan portion of the volume shows how the U.S. has tried to confront the heroin trade that has funded the Taliban there, including an example of how the U.S. government has used criminal prosecutions domestically to curb that trade.

Volume 108 of Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents tackles the contentious issue that appears in the volume's title: "Extraordinary Rendition". Although many commentators and publications have focused on the U.S. policy of such troubling transfers, little focus has been devoted to the reaction to this policy by the rest of the world. In this volume, new General Co-Editor Aziz Huq both presents the key documents demonstrating that reaction and comments authoritatively on what those documents mean for the future of torture-based international transfers. For ease of research, Huq has divided the volume into two sections: the first deals with U.N. and E.U. responses to the U.S. policy, including a case before the U.N. Committee Against Torture, and the second section tours the reports and cases on rendition that have arisen from national jurisdictions, specifically Italy, Sweden, the U.K., ireland, and Canada.

Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents Volume 103, Global Issues, continues the recent changes to this series that have justified a new publisher-brand, a new title, and a re-designed cover. That new title emphasizes the expert commentary now provided by three leading scholars in the field: Doug Lovelace, Director of the Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute, Kristen Boon of Seton Hall Law School, and Aziz Huq of the University of Chicago School of Law. In this particular volume, Lovelace updates researchers on new developments in various regions of the world. He devotes many pages to the debacle along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where Pakistan harbors extremists conducting the insurgency in Afghanistan. Both the documents selected by Lovelace and his insightful commentary describe how the U.S., under advice from Special Envoy Dick Holbrooke, has changed its approach to the problem by treating Afghanistan and Pakistan as one party instead of two. Volume 103 ("Global Issues") also examines the complex issue of China's possible assistance to terrorists overseas. For example, some weapons used against coalition forces in Afghanistan originate from China, despite China's promise to help the U.S. in its war against terror. Lovelace and the documents he presents also assess India's measured, thoughtful reaction to allegations that Pakistan facilitated the November terrorist attacks in Mumbai. The volume also alerts readers to disturbing developments in South America, where such groups as FARC in Colombia and The Shining Path in Peru have persisted in their profit-seeking campaigns of violence, despite those countries' general success in diminishing their power.

Volume 106 of Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents, Terrorist Financing and Money Laundering, guides readers through the complex legal terrain of terrorist financing and money-laundering. Researchers will benefit from the diversity of this volume's selection: from U.S. agency reports on how to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission to the efforts of the European Parliament in seizing assets to two perspectives on how well Saudi Arabia is combating terrorist financing within its borders: the U.S. perspective and the perspective of Saudi Arabia itself. Equally important for researchers is this volume's extensive treatment of U.N. measures on terrorist financing and money laundering. The volume concludes with the full text of the model rules for regulating terrorism-related financial transactions, as promulgated by a joint body of the U.N. and the International Monetary Fund.

Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents is a series that provides primary source documents and expert commentary on various topics relating to the worldwide effort to combat terrorism, as well as efforts by the United States and other nations to protect their national security interests. Volume 143, The Evolution of the Islamic State, focuses on the U.S. response to the Islamic State (IS) both in Syria and Iraq from a foreign policy standpoint and a military strategy perspective, as well as considering the impact of the rise of IS on the broader global jihadist movement. Consideration is also given to the importance of information warfare in countering IS's worldwide recruiting efforts via the Internet. This volume also includes documents examining related issues of great importance, including a report considering IS's financing, a report on the legal issues arising in connection with U.S. military action against IS, the role of Shia warlords and militias in Iraq in opposing IS, and the lessons that can be learned from the support provided to IS by European fighters.

Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents is a series that provides primary source documents and expert commentary on various topics relating to the worldwide effort to combat terrorism, as well as efforts by the United States and other nations to protect their national security interests. Volume 144, Autonomous and Semiautonomous Weapons Systems, examines the impact of robots and autonomous and semiautonomous weapons systems on the waging of modern warfare. It considers the likely effects of emerging technological innovations in this area from both a political and strategic standpoint, in addition to considering the implications of such technologies within the context of the law of armed conflict and international humanitarian law. This volume is divided into three sections: (1) U.S. policy and approaches to the use of autonomous and semiautonomous weapons systems; (2) U.S. armed forces use of such weapons systems; and (3) potential terrorist use of such weapons systems. Official policy documents from the DoD and the U.S. Army and Air Force are complemented by reports from the Strategic Studies Institute/Army War College Press and other U.S. military sources.

In Volume 107 of Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents, entitled "U.N. Response to Al Qaeda", new General Co-Editor Kristen Boon covers the history that started with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1267 in 1999 and that continues today. In that document, the United Nations established sanctions against any individuals or organizations financially supporting those two terrorist organizations or Osama bin Laden. With her expert commentary on all documents flowing from that resolution, Boon traces the unfolding fate of those sanctions, from the amending resolutions that expanded the sanctions' purview to the provision of a notice period for targeted parties to specific countries and regions' implementing legislation to court challenges claiming that the sanctions violate the targeted parties' human rights. No other book offers what this volume does: an expert guide to the U.N.'s first effort at sanctioning a select group of parties rather than a broad, comprehensive category of unspecificed people.

Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents is a series that provides primary source documents and expert commentary on various topics relating to the worldwide effort to combat terrorism, as well as efforts by the United States and other nations to protect their national security interests. Volume 147, Assessing the 2017 U.S. National Security Strategy, evaluates the changes in U.S. national security policy indicated in the National Security Strategy published by the Trump administration in 2017, as well as the U.S. National Defense Strategy, a summary of which was made available to the public in 2018. The volume also takes a close look at the comparable strategy documents of the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China (PRC), the two greatest competitors of the U.S. in the global power structure, in addition to considering the U.S. security posture in the broader international context. In addition to including the text of the 2017 U.S. National Security Strategy and the 2018 U.S. National Defense Strategy, this volume also includes the Russian Federation's Foreign Policy Concept, National Security Strategy, and Military Doctrine, and China's national defense, military strategy, and Asia-Pacific cooperation documents, as well as Chinese President Xi Jinping's October 2017 speech to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China outlining the way forward for the PRC. Two 2017 CRS reports examining U.S. security strategy in the international context are also included: U.S. Role in the World: Background and Issues for Congress and A Shift in the International Security Environment: Potential Implications for Defense-Issues for Congress.

Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents is a series that provides primary source documents and expert commentary on various topics relating to the worldwide effort to combat terrorism, as well as efforts by the United States and other nations to protect their national security interests. Volume 142, Security Strategies of the Second Obama Administration: 2015 Developments, examines the major national security and military strategy documents released by the Obama administration during 2015: the National Security Strategy; the National Military Strategy; the National Intelligence Strategy; and the Department of Defense Cyber Strategy. This volume is intended as a sequel to Volume 137 of this series, which considered the de facto national security strategy of the Obama administration prior to the release of these documents. It is divided into four topical sections, each of which is introduced by a commentary written by series editor Douglas C. Lovelace, Jr. In addition to the documents listed above, this volume also contains recent reports analyzing those documents, as well as a legal update on the current status of the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) and a consideration of the War Powers Resolution.