Seminar in National Security Issues and Policy

Catalog description

This seminar will explore key issues of national security law and public policy. Topics will include the collection (and production) of foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, covert action, offensive counterterrorism operations, the laws of war, cybersecurity, and other current issues in the national security area. In evaluating these topics, the seminar will discuss the allocation of decision-making and oversight authority among the three branches of government; the politicization of intelligence; the balances between security and liberty and security and transparency; and it will consider possible ways to reconcile domestic law and policy objectives with international obligations and norms. It will focus on domestic sources of law-the Constitution, National Security Act, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, among others-but also will touch upon and consider the impact of international legal frameworks such as the UN Charter and Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols.