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

Office of Legal Counsel Memos - Torture Memos

A special thanks to Steven Aftergood at the Project on Government Secrecy, who is reponsible for making many of these documents publically available.

National Security Law Cases

Historical Documents

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

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

Laws

Good guide to FISA

War Powers Resolution of 1973

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

Handbooks and Guidelines

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.

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)

"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, Inherently Governmental Functions and Department of Defense Operations: Background, Issues, and Options for Congress, 22 June 2009.

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 - "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

Briefs

Martial Law

Cases