Digital Commons Network^™

The First Amendment Protects Military Funeral Protests, Timothy Zick

Timothy Zick

Military funeral protests are offensive, but protected free speech.

Acknowledging The Impact Of Climate Change On National Security: A Long And Winding Road, Linda A. Malone

Linda A. Malone

No abstract provided.

Interest-Balancing Vs. Fiduciary Duty: Two Models For National Security Law, Evan Fox-Decent, Evan J. Criddle

Evan J. Criddle

No abstract provided.

J. Edgar Hoover, Speech Before The House Committee On Un-American Activities (26 March 1947), Stephen M. Underhill

Stephen M. Underhill

J. Edgar Hoover fought domestic communism in the 1940s with illegal investigative methods and by recommending a procedure of guilt by association to HUAC. The debate over illegal surveillance in the 1940s to protect national security reflects the on‐going tensions between national security and civil liberties. This essay explores how in times of national security crises, concerns often exist about civil liberties violations in the United States.

Water Privatization Trends In The United States: Human Rights, National Security, And Public Stewardship, Craig Anthony (Tony) Arnold

Craig Anthony (Tony) Arnold

No abstract provided.

The Constitution And National Security, Erwin Chemerinsky

Erwin Chemerinsky

No abstract provided.

Weaknesses Of Adjudication In The Face Of Secret Evidence, Gus Van Harten

Gus Van Harten

Since 2001, governments in Canada and the United Kingdom appear to have increasingly sought to use secret evidence in proceedings against individuals suspected of posing a security threat, relying on the courts to review and legitimate executive claims in closed proceedings. Yet, in the face of secret evidence, adjudicative decision-making is subject to several extraordinary weaknesses. First, the judge is precluded from hearing additional information that can come to light only if the individual or the public is aware of the executive’s claims. Secondly, courts are uniquely reliant on the executive to be fair and forthcoming about confidential information and …

Restricted Access To Justice For Canadians Mistreated Abroad: Abdelrazik V. Canada (Re: Interim Costs), Sean Rehaag

Sean Rehaag

Abousfian Abdelrazik is a Canadian citizen who, after having his name added to various anti-terrorism lists, and after being tortured by Sudanese officials, found himself unable to return home from Sudan largely because of Canadian government actions. Abdelrazik sought to challenge the constitutionality of these restrictions on his ability to return to Canada. However, he had no money and no means of support, as he was unable to leave a Canadian embassy in Sudan where he had sought refuge to avoid further torture by Sudanese officials. He therefore brought a motion for interim costs in Canada’s Federal Court. If granted, …

Strategic Cyberwar Theory - A Foundation For Designing Decisive Strategic Cyber Operations, Jan Kallberg

Jan Kallberg

Weaknesses Of Adjudication In The Face Of Secret Evidence, Gus Van Harten

Gus Van Harten

Since 2001, governments in Canada and the United Kingdom appear to have increasingly sought to use secret evidence in proceedings against individuals suspected of posing a security threat, relying on the courts to review and legitimate executive claims in closed proceedings. Yet, in the face of secret evidence, adjudicative decision-making is subject to several extraordinary weaknesses. First, the judge is precluded from hearing additional information that can come to light only if the individual or the public is aware of the executive’s claims. Secondly, courts are uniquely reliant on the executive to be fair and forthcoming about confidential information and …

Restricted Access To Justice For Canadians Mistreated Abroad: Abdelrazik V. Canada (Re: Interim Costs), Sean Rehaag

Sean Rehaag

Abousfian Abdelrazik is a Canadian citizen who, after having his name added to various anti-terrorism lists, and after being tortured by Sudanese officials, found himself unable to return home from Sudan largely because of Canadian government actions. Abdelrazik sought to challenge the constitutionality of these restrictions on his ability to return to Canada. However, he had no money and no means of support, as he was unable to leave a Canadian embassy in Sudan where he had sought refuge to avoid further torture by Sudanese officials. He therefore brought a motion for interim costs in Canada’s Federal Court. If granted, …

National Security Policy And Ratification Of The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, Winston P. Nagan, Erin K. Slemmens

Winston P Nagan

While no legal obstacles prevent the U.S. Senate's reconsideration of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), lingering doubts (about the effectiveness of the international treaty) and partisan politics (founded upon outdated ideologies of national sovereignty) may again foreclose the opportunity for the United States to lead a just and thorough regime of international arms control. By closely examining the U.S. Senate's previous rejection (and, by implication, the nation's non-ratification) of the CTBT, we assess the political process that failed to realize the security values now imperative to U.S. national defense. To this appraisal, we join analysis of the contemporary law, policy, …

Patriotism, Nationalism, And The War On Terror: A Mild Plea In Avoidance, Winston P. Nagan, Craig Hammer

Winston P Nagan

Professor Viet Dinh, a major drafter of and architectural influence upon the USA PATRIOT Act, provides an indirect scholarly justification for the far-reaching powers of the act in his article, Nationalism in the Age of Terror. Part II of this Commentary begins by exploring the ostensible underpinnings of Dinh's article by examining his understanding of nationalism. Part III explains why crony nationalism is not the best defense against global terrorism. Part IV then analyzes some significant United States foreign policy undertakings that have arguably negatively affected United States national security. Finally, in Part V we conclude by gleaning lessons from …

News Media Satellites And The First Amendment: A Case Study In The Treatment Of New Technologies, Robert P. Merges, Glenn H. Reynolds

Robert P Merges

No abstract provided.

Integration Of And The Potential For Islamic Radicalization Among Ethnic Turks In Germany, Alev Dudek

Alev Dudek

In spite of ongoing improvements, integration of ethnic Turks in Germany remains a challenge from the dominant culture perspective, whereas a deeply ingrained institutional and everyday racism and the lack of legal protection against discrimination pose a challenge to full participation of ethnic Turks from another perspective. In an increasingly xenophobic Europe, particularly Germany, an increase in potential for religious and nationalist radicalization in different groups including ethnic Turks is becoming more and more evident. This increase in radical attitudes is not necessarily caused by a lack of integration, as evidenced among well-integrated individuals.

In view of recent developments toward …

The Statement And Account Clause As A National Security Freedom Of Information Act, Lawrence Rosenthal

Lawrence Rosenthal

Cyber Resilience Is A National Problem, Jan Kallberg

Jan Kallberg

The biggest challenge for American cyber resilience right now is to disseminate knowledge within the nation. The federal sector, the financial institutions, and the defense complex are on top of the game to a high degree. The asymmetric way cyber conflicts are and will be fought exposes the whole government structure of a country. The sheer numbers entities that form local government are staggering – just as examples I mention that in the US there are 6,000 counties, 15,000 police departments, and 50,000 public utilities. My take is that to be able to strengthen American cyber resiliency local government needs …

National Security: A Propositional Study To Develop Resilience Indicators As An Aid To Personnel Vetting, David Brooks, Jeff Corkill, Julie-Ann Pooley, Lynne Cohen, Cath Ferguson, Craig Harmes

David J Brooks Dr.

Within the National Security domain there is a convergence of security responsibility across the national security agencies, law enforcement and private security sectors. The sensitivity of this environment requires individuals operating in the domain to be honest, trustworthy and loyal. Personnel vetting is a formal process used to determine an individual’s suitability for access to this domain. Notwithstanding this process, significant breaches of trust, security, and corruption still occur. In psychology, resilience is a well researched phenomenon that is considered a multidimensional construct where individual attributes, family aspects and social environment interact in aiding individuals to deal with vulnerability. There …

The Packbots Are Coming, Katina Michael, M.G. Michael

Professor Katina Michael

High-tech robots called PackBots will be unleashed during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil to help boost security and examine suspicious objects. The Brazilian government purportedly spent US$7.2 million to buy 30 military-grade robots from designers iRobot that will police the stadiums throughout Brazil’s 12 host cities during soccer matches. PackBot is a hunk of metal with an extendable arm and tactile claw, jam-packed on-board sensors and a computer with overheat protection, nine high-resolution cameras and lasers and two-way audio. But is it overkill to implement wartime robots to a sporting event?

Why The Cyber Bill Matters, Jan Kallberg

Jan Kallberg

The separation between private sphere and the federal government matters more than we might think. The bill will create a funnel for industries, enterprises, local government, and state agencies to share information with the federal government. The bill separates the federal government and these other entities – by a traditional but validated approach – by the surrender to federal government for protection by bargaining away the “right” to self-protection. It is important because the federal government will maintain its legitimacy and authority over defending the nation – and by doing so we avoid a chaotic cyber environment where everyone is …

Cyber Beyond Computers - The Environmental Aspect, Jan Kallberg

Jan Kallberg

A forgotten aspect on cyber and cyber conflicts impact on our society is the fact that tampering with our control systems can lead to industrial processes running amok - and lead to environmental damages. Threats to our environment is taken very serious by the population and pollution and contamination of our living space trigger drastic reactions.

Cyber In Waffle House Land, Jan Kallberg

Jan Kallberg

The epicenter of cyber is Washington, D.C., and the discourse radiates from the national capital outward. The question is how far from the Beltway it reaches. Does the rest of this nation care about the national security threat that is embedded in future adversarial cyber operations?

Hamdan V. United States: A Death Knell For Military Commissions?, Jennifer Daskal

Jennifer Daskal

In October 2012, a panel of the D.C. Circuit dealt a blow to the United States’ post- September 11, 2001 decade-long experiment with military commissions as a forum for trying Guantanamo Bay detainees. Specifically, the court concluded that prior to the 2006 statutory reforms, military commission jurisdiction was limited to violations of internationally-recognized war crimes; that providing material support to terrorism was not an internationally-recognized war crime; and that the military commission conviction of Salim Hamdan for material support charges based on pre-2006 conduct was therefore invalid. Three months later, a panel of the D.C. Circuit reached the same conclusion …

Biometric Id Cybersurveillance, Margaret Hum

Margaret Hu

The implementation of a universal digitalized biometric ID system risks normalizing and integrating mass cybersurveillance into the daily lives of ordinary citizens. ID documents such as driver’s licenses in some states and all U.S. passports are now implanted with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. In recent proposals, Congress has considered implementing a digitalized biometric identification card—such as a biometric-based, “high-tech” Social Security Card—which may eventually lead to the development of a universal multimodal biometric database (e.g., the collection of the digital photos, fingerprints, iris scans, and/or DNA of all citizens and noncitizens). Such “hightech” IDs, once merged with GPS-RFID tracking …

Societal Cyberwar Theory Applied The Disruptive Power Of State Actor Aggression For Public Sector Information Security, Jan Kallberg, Bhavani Thuraisingham, Erik Lakomaa

Jan Kallberg

Abstract – The modern welfare state faces significant challenges to be able to sustain a systematic cyber conflict that pursues the institutional destabilization of the targeted state.

Cyber defense in these advanced democracies are limited, unstructured, and focused on anecdotal cyber interchanges of marginal geopolitical value.

The factual reach of government activities once a conflict is initiated is likely to be miniscule. Therefore the information security activities, and assessments leading to cyberdefense efforts, have to be strategically pre-event coordinated within the state. This coordination should be following a framework that ensures institutional stability, public trust, and limit challenges to the …

Cyber Defense As Environmental Protection - The Broader Potential Impact Of Failed Defensive Counter Cyber Operations, Jan Kallberg, Rosemary Burk

Jan Kallberg

Key in the critique of the likelihood of cyber conflict has been the assumption that cyber does not lead to long-term and irrevocable effects – therefore it cannot be fought as a war. This might be true if cyber attacks are constrained to specific functions of a computer system or set of client computers, however, a failed cyberdefense can have wider effects than discussed in earlier debates of potential consequences and risks. The environmental aspect of cyberdefense has not drawn attention as a national security matter. We all, as people, react to threats to our living space and natural environment. …

Mission Creep In National Security Law, Fletcher N. Baldwin Jr., Daniel R. Koslosky

Fletcher N. Baldwin

Many anti-terrorism measures are enacted with broad public support. There is often a general willingness on the part of the public to accept greater civil liberties deprivations in the face of a specific threat, or otherwise in times of general crisis, than would otherwise be the case. Sweeping anti-terrorism legislation is frequently crafted in reaction to the presence, or perceived presence, of immense, imminent danger. The medium and long-term consequences of the legislation may not fully be comprehended when political leaders and policymakers take swift action in the face strong public pressure in light of a recent terrorist attack or …

Chapter 13: Operation Neptune Spear: Was Killing Bin Laden A Legitimate Military Objective?, Kevin H. Govern

Kevin H. Govern

In this chapter I take the killing of Osama bin Laden as a test case for considering the moral and legal status of intentionally killing individuals deemed a threat to national security, under conditions in which the object of the targeted attack is offered little or no opportunity to surrender to attacking forces. The target in such operations, in short, is treated as though he were a belligerent: a person placed on a kill list may be targeted in a way that would be legitimate if he were an enemy combatant. In such cases, we think of him as having …

The Social Implications Of Covert Policing, Simon Bronitt, Clive Harfield, K. Michael

Clive Harfield

Police agencies have been accused of suffering from an acute form of technophilia. Rather than representing some dreadful disorder, this assessment reflects the strong imperative, both in police agencies and the wider community, that police must have access to the latest technologies of surveillance and crime detection.

The last decade has witnessed the proliferation of low-cost surveillance technologies, some developed specifically for law enforcement purposes. Technology once the preserve of the military or secret intelligence agencies is now within the reach of ordinary general duties police officers. The new generation of police recruits is highly adept at using new technologies. …

Towards A Conceptual Model Of User Acceptance Of Location-Based Emergency Services, Anas Aloudat, Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

This paper investigates the introduction of location-based services by government as part of an all-hazards approach to modern emergency management solutions. Its main contribution is in exploring the determinants of an individual’s acceptance or rejection of location services. The authors put forward a conceptual model to better predict why an individual would accept or reject such services, especially with respect to emergencies. While it may be posited by government agencies that individuals would unanimously wish to accept life-saving and life-sustaining location services for their well-being, this view remains untested. The theorised determinants include: visibility of the service solution, perceived service …