National Security Law Commons^™

Free From The Scourge Of War: Defense Contractors Exporting On Behalf Of The U.S. Government, Samantha Cook

Duquesne Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Culture Police: Manning The Barricades Of Allowable Art And Culture, Ramy Aly

Faculty Book Chapters

In this chapter I look at the history and ontology of censorship in Egypt from the Monarchical era to the present. I focus on the post-1952 era and how a tutelary state culture has been deployed as part of a broader cultural militarism. The chapter also covers the legislative architecture that has ensured a stranglehold on the part of syndicates and the creation of a broad range of crimes associated with art and culture production and exhibition.

The Conservative Court And Torture Attenuation, Ari B. Rubin

American University National Security Law Brief

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Responsibility As Cooperation And Control: The Case Of Intelligence Agents, Raphael Bitton

American University National Security Law Brief

No abstract provided.

The Right Of Return: The Isis Bride, Casey Hare-Osifchin

American University National Security Law Brief

No abstract provided.

Equal Prosecution For All: Violent Extremism At The Intersection Of Hate Crime And Terrorism, Gabrielle Leeman

American University National Security Law Brief

After a white supremacist used his vehicle as a weapon to purposefully attack anti-racism protestors in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, federal officials called the incident domestic terrorism. The incident, in fact, met the definition of domestic terrorism. But the perpetrator was not prosecuted under any of the available terrorism statutes. The defendant was instead charged with, and later pled guilty to, committing hate crimes. It is imperative that we recognize all forms of terrorism as terrorism and use the legal system fairly to prosecute all terrorist attacks as terrorism. But the current terrorism statutory framework hinders the ability to prosecute …

Piercing The Veil: Reconciling Fisa And The State Secrets Privilege In The Schrems Ii Era, Chris Baumohl

American University Law Review

Twenty years after 9/11 and the beginning of the “War on Terror,” access to judicial redress arising out of national security programs remains mired in a labyrinth of procedural hurdles, including the state secrets privilege. Nearly seventy years after the Supreme Court first enunciated the modern state secrets privilege, courts still struggle to articulate a practicable standard that appropriately balances the government’s need to protect its secrets and plaintiffs’ need to vindicate their constitutional rights. This issue is particularly acute in surveillance litigation, where broad construction of the privilege precludes plaintiffs from establishing standing. However, as the Ninth Circuit found …

An Analysis Of Domestic And Foreign Legal Mechanisms To Counter The Rise Of White Nationalism, John C. Jankosky Ii

American University National Security Law Brief

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Editor

American University National Security Law Brief

No abstract provided.

“Hey Siri, I’M Being Pulled Over.”, Charlene Collazo Goldfield, Gabriela Chambi, Amanda Torres

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

Statistics show that policing disproportionately affects communities of color; police are more likely to use force against Black and brown people.¹ Data from non-violent encounters (e.g., reason for the stop, type of force used, and presence of witnesses) is rarely collected or disregarded altogether.² Video evidence can publicize police violence. Bystander video during George Floyd’s murder led to arrests and a global racial reckoning because it depicted the reality of police encounters for people of color. Although technological advancements have led to positive developments for civilian safety (e.g., body cameras and in-car videos), data collection consistency and accountability …

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 …

Trademarks As Surveillance Transparency, Amanda Levendowski

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

We know very little about the technologies that watch us. From cell site simulators to predictive policing algorithms, the lack of transparency around surveillance technologies makes it difficult for the public to engage in meaningful oversight. Legal scholars have critiqued various corporate and law enforcement justifications for surveillance opacity, including contract and intellectual property law. But the public needs a free, public, and easily accessible source of information about corporate technologies that might be used to watch us. To date, the literature has overlooked a free, extensive, and easily accessible source of information about surveillance technologies hidden in plain sight: …

When Thoughts And Prayers Are Not Enough: Why Age-Based Restrictions On Purchasing Firearms Pass Constitutional Muster, Madeline P. Fuller

American University Law Review

After the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that took the lives of seventeen students and staff members and injured countless others, the community debated how this event could have been prevented. There were security failures on the part of the school and police—unlocked doors, passive deputies and a security guard, and a broken PA system—all of which may have lessened the casualties had they been operating properly. However, these security measures might not have been tested and found lacking if another preventative measure had already taken place: prohibiting the young shooter from legally purchasing a weapon.

Florida …

The Discriminatory Executive & The Rule Of Law, Maryam Jamshidi

UF Law Faculty Publications

Today, the executive enjoys unprecedented power, particularly in the area of national security. By and large, this authority is not meaningfully restrained by Congress or the courts. However, some scholars argue that the presidency is still kept in check by the rule of law and politics. According to this view, substantive and procedural laws and internal executive branch rules combine with political efforts by the public, like voting, to hold the President accountable. This Article challenges this view. It argues that the rule of law and politics do not always work together to restrain the executive. Instead, law can sometimes …

The Capitol Riot, Racism And The Future Of American Democracy, Ryan T. Williams

American University National Security Law Brief

No abstract provided.

Private Military Contractors: The Armed Forces Absent From The War Powers Resolution, Mckinney Voss Wheeler

American University National Security Law Brief

Private military contractors (PMCs) are increasingly ubiquitous in international conflicts, providing security, transport services, and even fighting alongside commissioned troops in battle. Yet for the United States, the ambiguity surrounding PMCs’ role in war presents a serious threat to the constitutional balance of war powers. The Founding Fathers deliberately divided those powers between the executive and legislative branches, aware of the dangers of concentrating them too heavily; and Congress further clarified protocol with the War Powers Resolution in 1973. But the War Powers Resolution, which requires the President to notify Congress when engaging "U.S. Armed Forces" in battle, omits any …

Satellite Communications Law: The Nexus Of Space And Telecom Law, Frans Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

Given the complexity of satellite communications as a global business sector involving many private as well as public operators, many national and international regulators and a constantly evolving suite of services offered to an ever-increasing number of users and consumers, it should not come as a surprise that the legal environment—the sets of rules, rights, and obligations applicable to anyone operating in the field—is highly complex as well. This is already true even if merely focusing at the international level, where the myriad domestic regimes play varying roles—largely neglected in this particular article—in implementing, interpreting, refining, enforcing, or even changing …

The Artemis Accords: Employing Space Diplomacy To De-Escalate A National Security Threat And Promote Space Commercialization, Elya A. Taichman

American University National Security Law Brief

No abstract provided.

Guidance On Presidential Records By The National Archives And Records Administration, David S. Ferriero

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

How the Presidential Records Act Affects the President, Vice President, and White House Staff During the Administration

Overview

The Presidential Records Act (PRA) of 1978, as amended, 44 U.S.C. §§ 2201-2209, governs the official records of Presidents and Vice Presidents created on or received after January 20, 1981. The PRA changed the legal ownership of the official records of the President from private to public.

The PRA established a new statutory structure under which Presidents must manage their records. The Presidential Records Act:

 Defines and states public ownership of the records;

 Places the responsibility for the custody and …

The Case For Presumptions Of Evil: How The E.O. 13873 'Trump' Card Could Secure American Networks From Third-Party Code Threats, Caroline Elyse Burks

American University National Security Law Brief

No abstract provided.

Recognizing The Role Of Inspectors General In The U.S. Government's Cybersecurity Restructuring Task, Amy Gaudion

Faculty Scholarly Works

Months prior to the 2015 public disclosure of a data breach at the U.S. government’s Office of Personnel and Management (OPM), the Office of the Inspector General for OPM issued a report that identified significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in a number of the agency’s information systems and IT security programs. In response to the 2020 SolarWinds supply chain hack, attributed to Russia, calls are underway for inspectors general to conduct audits and inspections and to review prior inspector general assessments of information systems and vulnerabilities at federal agencies. The use of inspectors general to assess information system vulnerabilities and …

The Evolution And Jurisprudence Of The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court And Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Of Review, Laura K. Donohue

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The past eight years have witnessed an explosion in the number of publicly-available opinions and orders issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review. From only six opinions in the public domain 1978–2012, by early 2021, eighty-eight opinions had been released. The sharp departure is even more pronounced in relation to orders: from only one order declassified during 1978–2012, since 2013, 288 have been formally released. These documents highlight how the courts’s roles have evolved since 2004 and reveal four key areas that dominate the courts’ jurisprudence: its position as a specialized, Article III …

Congressional Oversight Of Us Intelligence Activities, Mary B. Derosa

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This chapter examines the challenges, how they affect congressional oversight of intelligence, and Congress’s efforts to ensure accountability for United States (US) intelligence activities. The United States Government has engaged in intelligence collection and covert action since its earliest days. Congressional oversight of intelligence activities, however, has a relatively short history. It was not until the late 1940s, with the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), that the US House of Representatives and Senate created entities – subcommittees of their Armed Services committees – with responsibility for intelligence oversight. The Church Committee revelations and other concerns that surfaced during …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Law, Labor, And The Hard Edge Of Progressivism: The Legal Repression Of Radical Unionism And The American Labor Movement's Long Decline, Ahmed White

Publications

No abstract provided.

Citizens, Suspects, And Enemies: Examining Police Militarization, Milton C. Regan

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Concern about the increasing militarization of police has grown in recent years. Much of this concern focuses on the material aspects of militarization: the greater use of military equipment and tactics by police officers. While this development deserves attention, a subtler form of militarization operates on the cultural level. Here, police adopt an adversarial stance toward minority communities, whose members are regarded as presumptive objects of suspicion. The combination of material and cultural militarization in turn has a potential symbolic dimension. It can communicate that members of minority communities are threats to society, just as military enemies are threats to …

Who Owns The Skies? Ad Coelum, Property Rights, And State Sovereignty, Laura K. Donohue

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In light of the history of the doctrine of ad coelum, as well as the states’ preeminent role (secured by the Tenth Amendment) in regulating property and airspace up to the 500-foot level, it is remarkable that the federal government has begun to claim that it controls everything above the blades of grass. This chapter challenges those statements, demonstrating that history and law establish that property owners, and the states, control the airspace adjacent to the land.

Promotion And Protection Of Human Rights And Fundamental Freedoms While Countering Terrorism: Re-Education Camps, Sumaya S. Bamakhrama

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sailor-Scholar: Remembering Rear Admiral Horace B. Robertson Jr., Jagc, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

International Law Studies

This volume is dedicated to the memory of

Rear Admiral Horace B. Robertson Jr.,

JAGC, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

November 13, 1923 – November 19, 2020