National Security Law

Also see: For cases and information on detentions - Habeas Corpus; For cases and information on intelligence gathering - FISA- Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act - FISA / Border Security and Immigration / Vietnam Era

National Security Law Cases

Materials on Torture

Martial Law

Historical Documents

Nuremburg Trials - Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal

The Church Committee Reports

Executive Orders and Legal Opinions

Office of Legal Counsel Memos - Torture Memos

Review of Detention Policy Options, January 22, 2009.

Ensuring Lawful Interrogations, January 22, 2009. Replacing: Interpretation of the Geneva Conventions Common Article 3 as Applied to a Program of Detention and Interrogation Operated by the Central Intelligence Agency, Executive Order 13440, July 20, 2007

Review and Disposition of Individuals Detained at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and Closure of Detention Facilities, January 22, 2009.

Executive Order 12333--United States intelligence activities

AG Holder's Letter to Senator McConnell et al concerning Abdulmutallab (Feb. 3, 2010)

Laws

Espionage Act - 18 U.S. Code § 793 - Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information

War Powers Resolution of 1973

Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq - 2002

Law of War Articles

Parks, W. Hays. "Linebacker and the Law of War." Air University Review 34, no. 2 (1983): 2-30.

Parks, W. Hays. "Rolling Thunder and the Law of War." Air University Review (1982).

U.S. Military (Army) Field Manuals

The Law of Land Warfare - U,S, Army Field Manual FM27-10 (1956)

Civil Support by the Military - This publication provides overarching guidelines and principles to assist commanders and
their staffs in planning and conducting joint civil support operations. Department of Defense Joint Publication 3-28, 14 September 2007.

"Operational Law Handbook," The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School, July 2007 (667 pages, 6 MB PDF file)

Department of Defense - Law of War Manual (June 2015)

Handbooks and Guidelines

Bruce R Lindsay & Francis X. McCarthy, Considerations for a Catastrophic Declaration: Issues and Analysis CRS (2011)

Investigative Authorities in the USA PATRIOT Act

The Attorney General's Guidelines for Domestic FBI Operations, 1 December 2008.

Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Office of General Counsel – “Intelligence Community Legal Reference Book” (2007) - An extremely handy desk reference with excerpts from key statutes and guidelines.

"Legal Support to Military Operations," Joint Publication JP 1-04, March 1, 2007 - "Military lawyers were true combat multipliers in Iraq," said General David H. Petraeus, who is now U.S. commander in Iraq. "I tried to get all the lawyers we could get our hands on -- and then sought more."

Reports

CRS - NSA Surveillance Leaks: Background and Issues for Congress, July 2, 2013

CRS, Pilotless Drones: Background and Considerations for Congress Regarding Unmanned Aircraft Operations in the National Airspace System, September 10, 2012

SHADOWS IN THE CLOUD: Investigating Cyber Espionage 2.0, April 6, 2010

Benjamin Wittes, Robert Chesney & Rabea Benhalim, The Emerging Law of Detention: The Guantánamo Habeas Cases as Lawmaking. Brooking Institution 2010.

CRS, American Jihadist Terrorism: Combating a Complex Threat Jerome P. Bjelopera Analyst in Organized Crime and Terrorism, September 20, 2010.

Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR)  2010 - Chapter on Climate and National Security

DOJ National Security Division statistical report on terrorism-related convictions, 9/11/01 – 3/18/10 - Letter explaining the report - The Justice Department, responded to a congressional request for data on terrorism-related prosecutions and convictions, recently provided the most-recent iteration of an internal National Security Division report containing such statistics.

Due Process and Targeted Killing of Terrorists

CRS, Inherently Governmental Functions and Department of Defense Operations: Background, Issues, and Options for Congress, 22 June 2009. (2010)

Senate Armed Services Committee Inquiry into the Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody (Executive Summary), Dec. 11, 2008. Full Report - April 2009.

CRS - Closing the Guantanamo Detention Center: Legal Issues. January 22, 2009

Project on National Security Reform, Forging a New Shield, November 2008. A sweeping review of the current national security system and recommendations for reform.

"Restoring the Rule of Law," hearing before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Senate Judiciary Committee, September 16, 2008 (volume II to follow).

CRS - "National Emergency Powers", 2007

CRS - "Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2007," updated January 14, 2008.

"U.N. Convention Against Torture (CAT): Overview and Application to Interrogation Techniques," updated January 25, 2008: Old

"Data Mining and Homeland Security: An Overview," updated December 5, 2007

Fusion Centers: issues and options for Congress, by Todd Masse and others, Congressional Research Service, July 6, 2007. Report on how intelligence networks set up to share information on terrorism have drifted into conventional law enforcement, and the effect that has on civil liberties.

"Limitation of Authority to Deputize DoD Uniformed Law Enforcement Personnel by State and Local Governments," DoD Instruction 5525.13, September 28, 2007

Psychological Operations (PSYOP)

CRS - "P.L. 110-55, the Protect America Act of 2007: Modifications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act," August 23, 2007

"Congress's Contempt Power: Law, History, Practice, and Procedure," July 24, 2007

"Civil Affairs Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures," U.S. Army Field Manual FM 3-05.401, September 2003 (535 pages, 10 MB PDF file) - handling civilian populations during military actions.

CRS, "Congressional Authority To Limit U.S. Military Operations in Iraq," updated July 11, 2007."A Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Use of National Security Letters," DoJ Office of Inspector General, March 2007 (199 pages in a large 11 MB PDF file)

Protection of National Security Information, CRS, June 30, 2006

Probable Cause, Reasonable Suspicion, and Reasonableness Standards in the Context of the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: CRS, January 2006.

The September 11 Detainees: A Review of the Treatment of Aliens Held on Immigration Charges in Connection with the Investigation of the September 11 Attacks, Office of the Inspector General, June 2003

Congressional Research Service, Treaties and Other International Agreements: The Role of the United States Senate, A Study Prepared for the S. Comm. on Foreign Relations, 106th Cong., (Comm. Print 2001)

Link to information on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act