Interested in how law regulates the activities of the CIA, the NSA, and other parts of the U.S. Intelligence Community? This is your class. No prior knowledge of the topic or these institutions is required, and students from any graduate program at UT are welcome to sign up. We will begin with an orientation to these institutions, their history, and their functions, and then we will explore the legal and policy issues they raise. Much of the course is concerned with surveillance and other forms of information collection (think NSA, Snowden, FISA, and the like). Other key topics include the law regulating "covert action," assassination, and working with "dirty assets." NOTE: In past years, most of this stuff was covered in my basic "National Security Law" class, but starting in Fall '16 we are breaking that class up into distinct parts (in the spring there will be a "counterterrorism" class, for example, co-taught by myself and our newest faculty member, Professor Steve Vladeck). Note, too, that as a result you are not eligible to take this Intelligence Community class if you have had National Security Law. Other things to note: There is no casebook for this class; all materials will be provided to you via Canvas, with an option to pick up printouts if you wish (at no cost to you). Feel free to email me rchesney@law.utexas.edu if you have questions.
This class is cross-listed with LAW. LAW is the home department.