Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professors John Demers and Kenneth Wainstein

LL.M Seminar 849 (cross-listed) | 2 credit hours

This seminar will address the law governing national security investigations and related litigation. Topics will include electronic surveillance (e.g., the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), national security letters, mail covers, and the handling of classified information at trial (e.g., the Classified Information Procedures Act). National security law is often inaccessible, and can be particularly hard to follow when divorced from the context of historical tradition, governmental structures, and operational reality in which it functions. The seminar will aim to present the law in context, exposing students as much as possible to the real-world effects of legal standards and rules. Requirements include participation in a four-hour investigative exercise at the end of the semester, submission of two short papers during the course of the semester, and class participation.

Students may not receive credit for this course and the J.D. course, National Security Law: Investigations and Prosecutions or National Security Crisis Law or National Security Surveillance.

Grading for this class will be based on three components, each equally weighted: class participation; three short papers; and performance during the final exercise. There will be a four hour final exercise on Friday, April 25, 2014, from 3:30-7:30 p.m.