LAW7 640 - Anti-Terrorism, Law and the Role of Intelligence

This seminar will open with accepted legal definitions of terrorism; proceed with Simon and Benjamin, “The Age of Sacred Terror,” Richard Clarke, “Against All Enemies,” and Steve Call, “Ghost Wars,” to define the threat of religion-based, non-state terrorism; read Phil Heymann’s studies on the appropriate legal and constitutional responses to terrorism; study the USA Patriot Act for the congressional response; Hamdi, Padilla, Rasul, and Hamdan for the courts’ responses to the president’s military order and the notion of “unlawful combatants”; read the 9/11 Commission Report and the report of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Iraqi WMD reporting; and study the Silberman/Robb report on intelligence analysis. The seminar will venture some judgments on the proper balance between anti-terrorism measures and the constraints of a constitutional democracy on such issues as coercive interrogations, pre-emptive incarcerations, and intrusive surveillance.

Credits: 3