National Security Law

This course surveys the framework of domestic and international laws that variously authorize and constrain the U.S. government’s effort to combat threats to the nation. "National security" can mean many things, but this course will focus primarily on (i) the use of military force; (ii) the activities of the intelligence community (including covert action and intelligence collection); and (iii) cyber and other technological threats and responses. Recent developments – including the U.S. Government's collection of telephonic and electronic metadata; U.S. tensions with Iran; and efforts to protect U.S. infrastructure against Chinese intrusions – will inform our consideration of those areas of law. Throughout the class, we will wrestle with the substantive tensions that inevitably arise between national security imperatives and privacy, as well as questions about who decides how to strike that balance.