Prerequisite: Enrollment is by permission of instructor. Interested students should email a CV and statement of interest to Mr. Baker at jbaker@law.harvard.edu. Please apply no later than August 1, 2024. Students will receive notification shortly thereafter. HKS students may apply during the normal HKS course selection period.

Exam Type: No Exam. Students will be required to write 5 short thought papers during the semester and participate in a scenario exercise.

This seminar will address various aspects of the law governing national security as well as leadership and decision making in the national security law context. Topics will include constitutional issues regarding national security, electronic surveillance conducted pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), investigative tools authorized under the USA PATRIOT Act, and related topics. National security law is often inaccessible, and can be particularly hard to follow when divorced from the context of historical tradition, governmental structures, and the operational reality in which it functions. The course will aim to present national security law in context, exposing students as much as possible to the real-world effects of applicable legal standards and rules.