National Security Law
SLN #: 11795Course Prefix: LAW-691
Course Section: 014
Credit Hours: 2
Instructor(s): Gordon
Course Books: View List of Books
Course Description:
The course examines the historical, political, constitutional and legal underpinnings of National Security Law. How do we legally defend the United States in a time of cyber-attacks and a seemingly never ending war with non-nation enemies such as Al- Qeda or ISIS. At the same time we are guarding against hack attacks or other belligerent conduct from traditional foes like Russia. This raises many questions we will examine including who are our foreign enemies; foreign countries, terrorist groups, United States citizens recruited by terrorists groups? Who decides; the President, Congress, the Courts? What are the separation of powers questions? We will look at the rules of engagement when dealing with both nation and non-nation states. How do the traditional notions of armed attack, just war and International Humanitarian Law apply when faced a cyber-attacks and non-traditional enemies? Can we use drones and targeted attacks? How do we balance Constitutional guarantees including the Fourth amendment against needs for intelligence gathering? How do we protect government secrets while keeping an open society? When is detention appropriate as opposed to arrest? Who is entitled to trial in an Article III court and who by military tribunal? These are the sorts of matters we will study and discuss.
REQUIREMENTS
1. Students are expected to do all the reading in
advance of class and be ready for discussion,
including cold calls. The course is taught using the
Socratic method.
2. Students will write one fifteen page analytic paper based on the readings for the class. The paper is due on the close of finals, May 5, 2017.
GRADING
The final grade for the course will be based on the
papers and on the quality of your participation in
class.
READINGS
The textbook for the course is National Security Law,
Sixth ed. by Dycus, Berney, Banks, Raven-Hansen,
Vladek. Supplementary materials will also be
provided.
Additional Information:
Credit Hours: 2
Grading Option: Letter Grade Only
Graduation Writing Requirement: No
Flexible/Upper-Level Writing Requirement: Yes
Skills Requirement: No
Simulation Course: No
Experiential Learning: No
Seminar: No
Special Withdrawal Course: No
Limited Enrollment Number: 15
Final Exam Given: No
Paper Or In-Class Presentation: Yes, see course description
Participation Points: Yes, see course description
Attendance Policy: Per Statement Of Student Policies
* The law school has a policy that is used to calculate credit hours. Please see the Statement of Student Policies.