Program Overview

Certificate of Advanced Study in National Security & Counterterrorism Law

Overview

The Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) in National Security and Counterterrorism Law is a cornerstone academic program offered by the Institute for Security Policy and Law. It is available both on-campus and online through the JDinteractive program.

Program Description

The CAS program is designed to provide law and graduate students with interdisciplinary study on national security, counterterrorism, and related fields. Students will take 15 credits of coursework, including six credits from the Required Course list and nine credits from the Elective Course list. The program aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills to:

• Determine applicable legal rules in national security contexts
• Locate and evaluate research materials specific to the field of national security
• Demonstrate writing capacity through drafting law and policy memoranda
• Solve security problems that require solutions from non-law disciplines

Certificate Requirements

15 Credits of Coursework

• Six credits from the Required Course list
• Nine credits from the Elective Course list
• Maintain an overall 3.0 GPA average in required CAS courses

Capstone Project

• Examples of a Capstone Project include a research paper, clinical work, an externship, or a substantial collaborative project
• The project must be approved by the Program Director
• In place of a Capstone Project, students may take one or both of two classes whose cumulative work constitutes a Capstone Project

Course List

Required Courses

• National Security Law
• National Security & Counterterrorism Research Center [W] [C]
• Emerging Technologies & Global Security
• Counterterrorism & The Law
• Central Challenges in National Security Law & Policy [W] [C]
• Cybersecurity Law & Policy [W]
• Homeland Security Law & Policy

Elective Courses

• Emerging Technologies & Global Securities
• Externship Placements (with approval from SPL)
• Independent Study (with approval from SPL)
• International Human Rights Law
• Veterans Legal Clinic (VLC)
• Climate Change
• Comparative Civil-Military Relations
• Comparative Foreign Policy
• Culture in World Affairs
• EU-US Cooperation in Criminal Minds
• Federal Courts
• Federal Criminal Law
• Fundamentals of Conflict Studies
• Fundamentals of Postconflict Reconstruction
• Follow the Money: Key Issues Illicit Finance
• Health Law and Policy
• Humanitarian Action: Challenges, Responses, Results
• Immigration Law
• International Security
• International Security Theory
• Internet Law
• Law of the Global Commons
• Model Rules to Model Lawyers: Ethics in NS Lawyering
• Perspectives on Terrorism
• Political Leadership
• Privacy Law
• Responding to Proliferation of WMDs
• Rule of Law in Postconflict Reconstruction
• Space Law and Policy: National Security’s Next Frontier
• Transnational Crimes, Drugs, & Terrorism
• UN Organizations: Managing for Change
• US Defense Strategy, Military Posture & Combat Operations
• US Intelligence Community: 1947 to the Present
• US National Security & Foreign Policy

Certificate Subjects and Fundamentals

• National Security: federal law, international law, operational law, geopolitics, foreign policy, defense strategy, humanitarian interventions, emerging technologies
• Counterterrorism: legal definitions of terrorism, intelligence collection, surveillance, privacy, prosecution of terrorists, countering violent extremism
• Homeland Security: civil-military relations, emergency management, disaster response, immigration law
• Cybersecurity: the legal, policy, and technical aspects of cybersecurity, cyberespionage, computer crimes, countering cyber threats, critical infrastructure, artificial intelligence
• Humanitarian Law: international law, international humanitarian law; human rights law, laws of war, refugee law, postconflict reconstruction, special courts, alternative justice

Additional Academic Opportunities

• Group research projects
• Simulations
• Field trips
• Study abroad
• Student Association on Terrorism and Security Analysis (produces a journal and hosts an annual conference)