Fall 2021 Course Schedule

National Security Surveillance and Secrecy (LAW-635-001)
Alex Joel

Meets: 06:00 PM - 07:50 PM (W) - Yuma - Room Y400

Enrolled: 14 / Limit: 22

Administrator Access


Notices

There are no notices at this time.

Description

The role of lawyers in national security has never been more important, nor more challenging. Democracies around the world face a myriad of ever-changing threats, and governments must find innovative ways to counter those threats. Yet as intelligence and other national security organizations develop and implement measures to protect the nation’s security, they run the risk of undermining the nation’s core values.

The United States has developed a complex legal framework to regulate and oversee how the government conducts national security activities. This framework must both protect the nation’s security and the privacy and civil liberties of its people.

This course will examine that framework, focusing on the Intelligence Community, surveillance and secrecy. We will rely on publicly available materials. In addition, students should follow national security developments and bring their questions and observations to class. In particular, students should regularly visit national security law blogs, such as www.lawfareblog.com, and www.justsecurity.org. Students should also visit the sites of advocacy organizations to get a sense of the concerns raised about national security activities.

Grades will be based on a 2-hour exam, completion of postings regarding the readings (described below), and class participation. The exam will test your understanding of—and ability to apply—what we cover in the assigned readings, the pre-recorded lectures, and our classroom discussions.

Note that I teach the course from the perspective of a practitioner. I tend to focus classes on the areas that I feel a national security lawyer is most likely to encounter. I try to provide examples from my own professional experience in the Intelligence Community to convey the real-world relevance of the material. I also try to place legal developments in their historical context. After all, national security lawyers practicing at that time were the ones that shaped the landmark cases when they were decided, and the key laws when they were passed. Future students may study the cases, legislation, and policies that you help shape in your careers.

Textbooks and Other Materials

The textbook information on this page was provided by the instructor. Students should use this information when considering purchases from the AU Campus Store or other vendors. Students may check to determine if books are currently available for purchase online.

There is no textbook for this course. If the syllabus below contains an Internet link, please click the link to read the document. Unless otherwise indicated in the syllabus, for cases or statutes, I assume you will be able to retrieve them yourself.

Where the item refers to an "excerpt," look for the document to be posted on Canvas/MyWCL. For those documents, I have embedded comment boxes in the margins of the posted versions to show what you must read and what you can skim or skip.

First Class Readings

  1. The Constitution: Articles I-VII, Amendments I-XIV. https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/

  2. Matthew E. Glassman, Cong. Research Serv., R44334, Separation of Powers: An Overview (fas.org) (2016), pp. 1- 2, 8-19 [about 13 pages]
  3. United States v. Curtiss-Wright Exp. Corp., 299 U.S. 304, 57 S. Ct. 216, 81 L. Ed. 2551936) [excerpts - about 5 pages]
  4. Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579, 72 S. Ct. 863, 96 L. Ed. 1153 (1952) [excerpts - about 12 pages]

Syllabus

Use your MyAU username and password to access the syllabus in the following format(s):