National Security Law Commons^™

Veterans Treatment Courts: Broadening Eligibility For Veterans Convicted Of Violent Offenses, Mark Dela Peña

Catholic University Law Review

Veterans treatment courts (VTCs) have been gaining widespread popularity as a tool to divert justice-involved veterans from the criminal justice system. While a step in the right direction, most of these courts categorically exclude violent offenders for eligibility. Many jurisdictions conflate violent offenses with serious offenses, even when many violent offenses lack any physical harm. Additionally, prosecutors wield almost unbridled discretion in determining whether or not someone is charged with an offense considered to be violent, determining VTC eligibility even before a case reaches a sentencing hearing.

This comment argues for admitting veterans convicted of violent offenses into VTCs. This …

Paving A New (Hua)Wei: A Comparative Analysis Of International Approaches To Securing Information And Communication Technology Supply Chains, Jordan Villegas

Catholic University Law Review

Recent amendments to Chinese Intelligence Laws codify affirmative obligations upon domestic companies and citizens alike, namely, that they must assist and support the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in its intelligence gathering efforts. Coupling these laws with the international prevalence of Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications company comprising two-thirds of 5G equipment outside China, CCP compromised 5G equipment is an unassailable reality. This article explores five intelligence allied nations and how each has respectively addressed the risk posed by Huawei. It argues each nation’s policies are deducible to three primary approaches, categorically including: (1) promulgation of law explicitly excluding Huawei 5G equipment; …

Brain-Computer-Interfacing & Respondeat Superior: Algorithmic Decisions, Manipulation, And Accountability In Armed Conflict, Salahudin Ali

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

This article examines the impact that brain-computer-interfacing platforms will have on the international law of armed conflict’s respondeat superior legal regime. Major Ali argues that the connection between the human brain and this nascent technology’s underlying technology of artificial intelligence and machine learning will serve as a disruptor to the traditional mental prerequisites required to impart culpability and liability on commanders for actions of their troops. Anticipating that BCI will become increasingly ubiquitous, Major Ali’s article offers frameworks for solution to BCI’s disruptive potential to the internal law of armed conflict.

Innovative Thinking: Modernizing Outer Space Governance, Diane M. Janosek

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Space security is essential to global safety and prosperity. International treaties should modernize and reflect the world’s innovation in space and governance needs. One must look back to 1967 for the inaugural “Outer Space Treaty,” the first and only binding multilateral agreement for peaceful space use and exploration. In 50 years, technologies and space capabilities have evolved; an updated global treaty and agreement should be developed and evaluated. Both China and Russia have demonstrated their capability to degrade and/or destroy adversaries’ satellites in space. Space wars are no longer a hypothetical. The future once discussed and anxiously anticipated after Sputnik …

Adapting U.S. Electronic Surveillance Laws, Policies, And Practices To Reflect Impending Technological Developments, Eric Manpearl

Catholic University Law Review

Intelligence collection must always evolve to meet technological developments. While the collection programs under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 have produced a great deal of valuable intelligence over the last decade, the United States must begin to think about foreseeable technological developments and strategically consider how to conduct signals intelligence (SIGINT) collection in the future.

This Article identifies four technological trends that could significantly impact the way the United States conducts SIGINT. Individuals now have access to sophisticated technologies that formerly only governments seemed capable of creating, and this decentralization of capabilities will likely only increase …

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same: The United States, Trade Sanctions, And International Blocking Acts, Meaghan Jennison

Catholic University Law Review

When the United States unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“JCPOA,” colloquially known as the Iran Nuclear Deal) in May of 2018, that withdrawal signaled not only the United States withdrawal from that deal, of which it had been one of the chief negotiators, but also of a new level of trade engagement by the United States and the Trump Administration within the international community. European countries, in an attempt to continue existing business relationships with the Iranians, pulled an old tool from their toolbox – the blocking statute – to attempt to allow European and multinational …

Investments And Security: Balancing International Commerce And National Security With Expanded Authority For The Committee On Foreign Investment In The United States, Christopher Jusuf

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

What happens when the interests of international trade conflict with those of national security? This article analyzes this question within the context of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an obscure but increasingly powerful executive panel that exercises the president's broad authority to unilaterally interfere with and stop international mergers and acquisitions. With the passage of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA), CFIUS is more powerful now than it has ever been, and should be a key consideration for any company seeking to do business with foreign investors. This is especially true as America …

The Survival Of Critical Infrastructure: How Do We Stop Ransomware Attacks On Hospitals?, Helena Roland

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Our nation’s infrastructure is under an emerging new threat: ransomware attacks. These attacks can cause anything from individual laptops, to entire cities to shut down for a period of time until the victim pays a ransom to the attacker. Unfortunately, these attacks are on the rise and the attackers have a new target: hospitals. Ransomware attacks on hospitals can temporarily shut down operating room technology and limit physician access to patient files, ultimately threatening the safety of hospital patients and the surrounding community. This paper examines how the threat of ransomware attacks on hospitals is on the rise and what …

Get Real: Implications And Impositions Of The Real Id Act Of 2005 On Vulnerable Individuals And States, Haley Hoff

Catholic University Law Review

The Act imposed strict requirements for those seeking to obtain personal identification documents. This Comment provides a background of the Real ID Act, including its controversial enactment, flawed implementation, and the effects the Act has on citizens. It will examine the various approaches states have employed during their process of coming into compliance with the Act as well as states’ struggle to achieve compliance. This Comment also provides a critical look into the unique issues that lower income and elderly individuals face as a result of the Act. Lastly, the Comment offers various practical and legal solutions that must be …

Artificial Intelligence Is Here, Get Ready!, Jessica G. Martz

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No one is certain whether Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) will make the future a better place or make it look like an apocalyptic Hollywood blockbuster. An opinion that is emerging among experts and nation-state leaders is that the nation-states that lead in AI advancements and implementation will likely have a greater influence on and power over the world economic and national security stages. The goal of this book review is to encourage the reader to enter the conversation about the role AI will play in global society and American life because AI will influence the job market in the near future. …

How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bots, And How I Learned To Start Worrying About Democracy Instead, Antonio F. Perez

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

This essay reviewing Striking Power, John Yoo and Jeremy Rabkin's new book on the legal and policy implications of autonomous weapons, takes issue with the book’s assumptions and; therefore its conclusions. The essay argues that, because of technological and ethical limitations, discriminate and effective use of autonomous weapons may not serve as an adequate substitute for traditional manpower-based military forces. It further argues that traditional conceptions of international law could prove more durable than Yoo and Rabkin suggest, and finally it concludes by suggesting that a grand strategy relying primarily on technological elites managing autonomous weapons actually threatens to …

The Itunes Of Downloadable Guns: Firearms As A First Amendment Right, Sandra Sawan Lara

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

As society becomes more technology driven, legal issues continue to arise around the world. From privacy to national security, technology develops at a rate the law simply cannot keep up with. In the United States, one of the biggest legal issues is how the new risks technology brings will interfere with our individual liberties.

Technologies like three-dimensional (“3D”) printing have transformed everything from lifesaving surgeries to gun manufacturing. This technology has led to a whole new way of communicating via computer coding, with the online open source movement leading innovation by allowing for the sharing and editing of files freely. …

How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bots, And How I Learned To Start Worrying About Democracy Instead, Antonio F. Perez

Scholarly Articles

This essay reviewing Striking Power, John Yoo and Jeremy Rabkin's new book on the legal and policy implications of autonomous weapons, takes issue with the book’s assumptions and; therefore its conclusions. The essay argues that, because of technological and ethical limitations, discriminate and effective use of autonomous weapons may not serve as an adequate substitute for traditional manpower-based military forces. It further argues that traditional conceptions of international law could prove more durable than Yoo and Rabkin suggest, and finally it concludes by suggesting that a grand strategy relying primarily on technological elites managing autonomous weapons actually threatens to …

Clearing The Air: Does Choosing Agency Deference In Security Clearance Rulings Dilute Constitutional Challenges?, Frank Russo

Catholic University Law Review

The ability to obtain a security clearance has a wide-ranging impact from job placement to questions of fitness in a presidential election. Sustaining a functional career in intelligence, national security, and many other federal fields within the United States is nearly impossible without proper security clearance. In 2016, the importance of proper clearance evolved into a national debate as each presidential candidate staked claims that their opposition should be excluded from receiving sensitive material.

This Comment begins with a detailed history of modern security clearance procedures and MSPB reviews of clearance revocations. Part I focuses on those who need security …

Deepfake Videos: When Seeing Isn't Believing, Holly Kathleen Hall

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Videos, known as deepfakes, use readily available software to create a work that shows people saying and doing things they may never have uttered or engaged in. The technology making the videos appear very authentic is advancing at such a rate that people may not be able to detect if the videos are fact or fiction. Given the hasty acceptance of other forms of fake news in society, deepfake videos have the ability to affect the nature of information the public receives about candidates and policies. This study examines the potential use of deepfake videos in the democratic process, analyzes …

Decrypting Our Security: A Bipartisan Argument For A Rational Solution To The Encryption Challenge, Jamil N. Jaffer, Daniel J. Rosenthal

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Time To Rethink Cybersecurity Reform: The Opm Data Breach And The Case For Centralized Cybersecurity Infrastructure, Zachary Figueroa

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

The Defend Trade Secrets Act Of 2015, S. 1890, H.R. 3326, 114th Congress (2015), Joseph K.C. Doukmetzian

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Implications For The Future Of Global Data Security And Privacy: The Territorial Application Of The Stored Communications Act And The Microsoft Case, Russell Hsiao

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Submarine Cables, Cybersecurity And International Law: An Intersectional Analysis, Tara Davenport

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Hey America! Let's Get Smart: The Need For A Reliable Modern Smart Electrical Grid Resistance To Cyberattacks, Richard J. Kisielowski Ii

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Mirandizing Terrorism Suspects? The Public Safety Exception, The Rescue Doctrine, And Implicit Analogies To Self-Defense, Defense Of Others, And Battered Woman Syndrome, Bruce Ching

Catholic University Law Review

In its 1984 decision New York v. Quarles, the Supreme Court announced the public safety exception, under which statements made by un-Mirandized suspects can be admissible when made in response to questions reasonably asked to protect the safety of the arresting officers or the general public. During the investigation of terrorism cases, law enforcement agencies have begun to extend the time of un-Mirandized questioning of suspects, with the hope that courts will find that the public safety exception makes the suspects’ statements admissible in the ensuing prosecutions.

This Article argues that in announcing the public safety exception, …

The Limits Of The Freedoms Act’S Amicus Curiae, Chad Squitieri

Scholarly Articles

The federal government’s power to engage in surveillance for national security purposes is extensive. In an effort to reform the current national surveillance regime, scholars have called for, among other things, the creation of a “special advocate” to counter the government’s arguments before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Feeling political pressure to improve an ever-unpopular national surveillance regime, lawmakers passed the USA FREEDOM Act (“Freedom Act”). Section 401 of the Freedom Act provides for the creation of an “amicus curiae,” a position that differs from earlier conceptions of a “special advocate” in important respects. This Essay examines those differences, and …

Amending The Economic Espionage Act To Require The Disclosure Of National Security-Related Technology Thefts, David Orozco

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reality Check: Detention In The War On Terror, Monica Eppinger

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Preventing Atoms For Peace From Becoming Atoms Of Terror: The National Environmental Policy Act Is Not A Vehicle For Addressing Terrorism, David D. Leege

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Jerusalem Embassy Act Of 1995, Geoffrey R. Watson

Scholarly Articles

Congress has voted to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. On October 24, 1995 - the day of the Conference on Jerusalem here at the Columbus School of Law of The Catholic University of America - Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995. The President took no action on the Act, allowing it to enter into force on November 8, 1995. The Act states that a United States Embassy to Israel should be established in Jerusalem by May 31, 1999, and it provides for a fifty percent cut in the State Department's building budget …

State-Sponsored Domestic Terrorism: The Case Of Poland, Rett R. Ludwikowski

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Political And Legal Instruments In Supporting And Combating Terrorism: Current Developments, Rett R. Ludwikowski

Scholarly Articles

A historian is a prophet of the past, not of the future, and a question about the future is not a historian's favorite one. With all these reservations, a historian is often compelled to trace past and present patterns in order to foresee the most likely arrangements of future events. The reflections presented below (in Part I) do not stem from the intention of the author to speculate about the prospects of Communism or discuss the alternative scenarios for the future of the Soviet bloc. They are limited to a few conclusions which can be drawn from the logical progression …

Aspects Of Terrorism: Personal Reflections, Rett R. Ludwikowski

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.