National Security Law
SLN #: 12296Course Prefix: LAW-691
Course Section: 1009
Credit Hours: 2
Instructor(s): Gordon
Course Books: View List of Books
Course Description:
National Security Law is a two hour seminar examining the legal structures and questions arising from protecting the national security. While national security law encompasses a wide range of subjects, the seminar focuses on the legal issues that arise in protecting the United States from undue and improper foreign interference and from threats that necessitate international cooperation. These may range from traditional notions of invasion by foreign countries to disrupting elections to terrorist activities by non-nation states to cyber-attacks from unknown sources. In the health care space it looks at threats caused by cyber-attacks on providers, climate disruption as national security issue and responding to pandemics. One of the key distinctions between national security issues and traditional criminal law is that national security is about collecting, protecting and acting on intelligence and using it to disrupt improper foreign activities before they occur as opposed to apprehending and convicting people after a crime occurs. This raises significant civil rights, due process and privacy issues which we also explore. Also, in light of current events, the classification and protection of intelligence will be examined in depth. We examine the distribution of power between the branches of government regarding national security. What is the President’s proper role and what role should Congress and the Court’s play? We will examine the legal issues regarding the United State’s involvement in Russia’s war against Ukraine and specifically the power of the President to impose sanctions or provides arms and support.
Course Expectations
Your grade in this course will be a function of both class participation and a final paper. There are weekly reading assignments which will be in the syllabus.
There are no quizzes or exams. There is, however, a final
paper. I will ask you to both define what you believe to
the most critical national security concern facing the
Country and what the legal challenges in addressing that
concern are. The paper should be fifteen pages long. The
paper is due by the last day of exams.
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: Yes
Special Withdrawal Course: No
Limited Enrollment Number: 15
Final Exam Given: No
Paper Or In-Class Presentation: Yes, see course description
Attendance Policy: Per Statement Of Student Policies
Teaching Method: In Person
* The law school has a policy that is used to calculate credit hours. Please see the Statement of Student Policies.