National Security Law Commons^™

A Skeptical Look At The Concept Of Terrorism, R. R. Baxter

Akron Law Review

International Law is that body of law which creates rights for me and duties for you. I fight wars of self-defence. You fight imperialistic wars of aggression. I am a patriotic soldier. You are a war criminal. I am a freedom fighter. You are a terrorist. It is in language of this character that we carry on rational discourse in these days. These are the conventional epithets of the contemporary epic.

We have cause to regret that a legal concept of "terrorism" was ever inflicted upon us. The term is imprecise; it is ambiguous; and above all, it serves no …

Symposium: Terrorism In The Middle East, Hamilton Desaussure

Akron Law Review

TERRORISM, LIKE THE RECENT tornados which struck in the Midwest, can come upon the unwary with lightning swiftness, strike in unexpected places, leave in their trail devastation, death, and helpless victims, and generate in relatives, friends, and a concerned public a sense of frustration and futility. Frustration in the sense that there was so little forewarning of the dramatic events that are to leave the lives of certain individuals forever changed. Futility that so little seems to be accomplished to prevent such destructive forces from again unfolding. The tornado that struck Xenia, Ohio, on April 3, 1974, took more than …

Ending Emergency Government, Frank Church

Akron Law Review

MY CONCERN IS TO END emergency government which the United States has practiced since March 9, 1933, and to establish an orderly procedure for handling inevitable emergency situations. This is an issue of importance to our common future and the future well-being of our constitutional system of government.

Swatting Political Discourse: A Domestic Terrorism Threat, Matthew James Enzweiler

Notre Dame Law Review

This Note will attempt to address the question of whether or not incidents of swatting aimed at contrary political ideals meet the characterization of domestic terrorism in the post–9/11 era. In particular, there will be consideration of the extent to which treatment of political swatting as domestic terrorism is consistent with the maintenance of the delicate balance between public safety concerns and protection of the constitutional values of free speech and free expression. This Note will proceed in four parts. Part I will examine the growth of telecommunication manipulation practices from products of curiosity to an alarming means of intimidation …

A Demographic Threat? Proposed Reclassification Of Arab Americans On The 2020 Census, Khaled A. Beydoun

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

“Arab Americans are white?” This question—commonly posed as a demonstration of shock or surprise—highlights the dissonance between how “Arab” and “white” are discursively imagined and understood in the United States today. These four words also encapsulate the dilemma that currently riddles Arab Americans. The population finds itself interlocked between formal classification as white, and de facto recognition as nonwhite. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the government agency that oversees the definition, categorization, and construction of racial categories, currently counts people from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) as white. The United States Census Bureau (Census Bureau), the …

Public Video Surveillance And The Separation Of Powers, Lianhan Zhang

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

The thesis focuses on the response from the United States government on new challenges brought by the public video surveillance, in particular the privacy threat. Regarding regulating public video surveillance, the United States has gone on a different path, either from Britain with its similar political system or from China with a totally different one. The three branches of government in the U.S. are deadlocked and unable to take any meaningful actions. The Supreme Court, which is in a strong position to set national and uniform standards for privacy protection, has not found a way to break away from its …

An Interdisciplinary Approach To The Strategic Defense Initiative Debate, Scott F. March

Akron Law Review

An interdisciplinary framework in which international law is but one element is presented in this article in the hope of lending organization to the complex subject of space weaponization. Seven factors are discussed which strongly influence decision-makers in both the United States and the Soviet Union who are charged with establishing and implementing the military space policies of their respective nations. They are (1) the relationship between the militarization of earth and the militarization of space; (2) the effects of weapon technology and national defense policy upon the use of space; (3) the interrelationship of the international law-making process with …

The Law Of Naval Warfare And China’S Maritime Militia, James Kraska, Michael Monti

International Law Studies

China operates a vast network of fishing vessels that form a maritime militia equipped and trained to conduct intelligence, communications, and targeting support for the People's Liberation Army Navy. Fishing vessels normally are exempt from capture or attack in the law of naval warfare unless they are integrated into the naval forces, but distinguishing between legitimate fishing vessels and maritime militia during naval warfare is virtually impossible.

Bringing Down The Barriers: American Laws That Impede Trade With The Cis, Arthur M. Dula, Lynne M. Tracy, Renee A. Rubino

Akron Law Review

It is necessary first to establish whether current trade restrictions apply to all former constituent parts of the Soviet Union or only to Russia. Second, the American-Russian trade relationship resembles a minefield. Some of the most powerful trade restrictions remain firmly in place. Others have been defused. This article will attempt to provide some guidance through the minefield. Finally, attention will be given to pending legislation that affects trade with Russia. Hopefully, this analysis will provide some insight into: (1) the past U.S. trade with the former Soviet Union; (2) where the relationship is now; and (3) what direction it …

Student Writing Competition

International Journal of Nuclear Security

No abstract provided.

Cover

International Journal of Nuclear Security

No abstract provided.

Masthead

International Journal of Nuclear Security

No abstract provided.

From The Editor

International Journal of Nuclear Security

No abstract provided.

Small Data Surveillance V. Big Data Cybersurveillance, Margaret Hu

Pepperdine Law Review

This Article highlights some of the critical distinctions between small data surveillance and big data cybersurveillance as methods of intelligence gathering. Specifically, in the intelligence context, it appears that “collect-it-all” tools in a big data world can now potentially facilitate the construction, by the intelligence community, of other individuals' digital avatars. The digital avatar can be understood as a virtual representation of our digital selves and may serve as a potential proxy for an actual person. This construction may be enabled through processes such as the data fusion of biometric and biographic data, or the digital data fusion of the …

Aumf Panel Transcript, Rosa Brooks, Benjamin Wittes

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Future As A Concept In National Security Law, Mary L. Dudziak

Pepperdine Law Review

With their focus on the future of national security law, the essays in this issue share a common premise: that the future matters to legal policy, and that law must take the future into account. But what is this future? And what conception of the future do national security lawyers have in mind? The future is, in an absolute sense, unknowable. Absent a time machine, we cannot directly experience it. Yet human action is premised on ideas about the future, political scientist Harold Lasswell wrote in his classic work The Garrison State. The ideas about the future that guide social …

International Humanitarian Law Divergence, Lesley Wexler

Pepperdine Law Review

How do states manage disagreements about the application and interpretation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL)? As countries find themselves embroiled in conflicts across the globe and in need of allies' political, economic, and military support, this question is important from a practical standpoint as well as a theoretical one. This essay provides one set of answers by looking at the United States’ approach to potential IHL disputes with its allies. It opens with an exploration of the issues most likely to create divergence: the existence, typology, and scope of armed conflicts; the interaction between IHL and International Human Rights Law, …

Standing And Covert Surveillance, Christopher Slobogin

Pepperdine Law Review

This Article describes and analyzes standing doctrine as it applies to covert government surveillance, focusing on practices thought to be conducted by the National Security Agency. Primarily because of its desire to avoid judicial incursions into the political process, the Supreme Court has construed its standing doctrine in a way that makes challenges to covert surveillance very difficult. Properly understood, however, such challenges do not call for judicial trenching on the power of the legislative and executive branches. Instead, they ask the courts to ensure that the political branches function properly. This political process theory of standing can rejuvenate the …

The Admissibility Of Confessions Compelled By Foreign Coercion: A Compelling Question Of Values In An Era Of Increasing International Criminal Cooperation, Geoffrey S. Corn, Kevin Cieply

Pepperdine Law Review

This Article proceeds on a simple and clear premise: a confession extracted by torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment should never be admitted into evidence in a U.S. criminal trial. Whether accomplished through extending the Due Process or Self-Incrimination based exclusionary rules to foreign official coercion, or by legislative action, such exclusion is necessary to align evidentiary practice regarding confessions procured by foreign agents with our nation's fundamental values as reflected in the Fifth Amendment and our ratification of the CAT. This outcome is not incompatible with Connelly. Rather, this Article explores the limits of the Court's language in …

War, Law, And The Oft Overlooked Value Of Process As A Precautionary Measure, Geoffrey S. Corn

Pepperdine Law Review

Never in recent memory has the relationship between law and war been so central to strategic legitimacy. This has resulted in both positive evolutions of the law of armed conflict (LOAC) and a remarkable increase in interest, understanding, and analysis of this law. No state, or even non-state group, is immune from the increasingly informed critique of its planning and execution of military operations and the quite proper demand that its military personnel comply with LOAC obligations. Central to the regulation of hostilities are the core LOAC principles of distinction and discrimination. Distinction mandates restricting deliberate attack to only those …