Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professor James Zirkle

J.D. Seminar 415 (cross-listed) | 3 credit hours

This seminar explores legal and policy issues raised by the conduct of foreign intelligence activities. We will examine how national policies and priorities are established and implemented and the constitutional roles of the President and Congress in this area. We will also look at the claims supporting the need for secrecy in this area and how successfully such claims are reconciled with the public's need to know. We will discuss the legal framework in such areas as security clearances, counterintelligence investigations, covert action, espionage, espionage prosecutions, the state secrets privilege, and counter terrorism measures. We will explore examples of how our legal system has resolved competing interests involving national security and individual rights, including a review of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the Classified Information Procedures Act, and Executive Order 12333, which regulates intelligence activities.