The National Security Law Podcast

We’re back with an evening recording, as co-hosts Bobby Chesney and Steve Vladeck weigh in on: The D.C. Circuit’s Mike Flynn ruling, and the likely path ahead The bizarre process of removing SDNY US Attorney Geoffrey Berman The Bolton book ruling The Veterans Memorial Preservation Act PCLOB’s FISA session earlier this week The SCOTUS ruling on Expedited Removal and the Suspension...

In the latest episode of the National Security Law Podcast, co-hosts Professors Steve Vladeck and Bobby Chesney discuss: Juneteenth, the Emancipation Proclamation, and War Powers DOJ’s doomed effort to get a prior restraint preventing publication of John Bolton’s already widely-distributed book (and, in contrast, DOJ’s strong prospects for getting a constructive trust for breach...

After an extra-long break, we are back…and swamped!  Tune in for debate and discussion of, among other things: The National Guard deployments to Washington, DC, including questions of status, command, and authority The special circumstances of the DC National Guard (and, relatedly, the issue of DC statehood) The Third Amendment, hotels, and originalism??? Civ-Mil relations and the weird week...

Tonight we bring you a special episode, recorded jointly with Ben Wittes as an episode of the Lawfare Podcast.  Ben, Bobby, and Steve explore the threatened invocation of the Insurrection Act by President Trump, the president’s existing use of the DC National Guard, the president’s assertion that he will designate Antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization,” and the use o...

Welcome back to the nerdiest national security law show around!  Tune in this week for debate and discussion between Steve Vladeck and Bobby Chesney regarding: Inspector General firings Presidential Emergency Action Documents Mike Flynn’s sentencing as the OJ Simpson Trial Apple, FBI, and the Pensacola AQAP plot as the latest salvo in the Going Dark/Cryptowars debate The ruling of Germany&#8...

Welcome back to the National Security Law Podcast, after a one-week hiatus!  (You can actually watch the recording here , if you need more Zoom in your life). In this episode, Steve Vladeck and Bobby Chesney discuss and debate: This week’s SCOTUS oral arguments in the Trump business subpoena cases.  Is a pragmatic compromise in the works?  Will the DA and HPSCI emerge winners? DOJ called, an...

What a fun episode!  Co-hosts Bobby Chesney and Steve Vladeck recorded “live” before the Austin Bar Association, as the finale of their day-long Zoom conference.  On tap: The ODNI report on FISA statistics: We have a detailed discussion of the highlights, focusing on whether there is cause for alarm in the renews that FBI in some instances failed to get a warrant (as required by statut...

Is this our most-substantive episode ever?  No, no it’s not.  Is it a sign that co-hosts Steve Vladeck and Bobby Chesney are going a bit stir crazy?  Perhaps so.  Does it feature cute cameos from Steve’s kids and his dog? Yes, that it does! (Which is why you probably want to peek at the Zoom video recording of the session, which is here !)  At any rate, tune in for: Pandemia: We discus...

And we’re back, with discussion of the latest national security law news. (Video of the show here !)  This week, co-hosts Steve Vladeck and Bobby Chesney nerd out with the details on: Can he do that? President Trump says he might adjourn Congress so as to be able to use his recess-appointment power.  Inquiring minds want to know: is that a thing? Oh, also: can he do  that ?  President Trump...

We are “live” from Penn Law today!  Thanks to the Penn Law National Security Society, not to mention the magic of Zoom, we recorded today with a virtual audience.  Tune in for your co-hosts, Professors Chesney and Vladeck, as they debate: Paracha v. Trump: A blast from the past: a district court habeas ruling on the legal and factual foundations for holding a GTMO military detainee, on...

It’s not April Fool’s trick, we really are back with a new episode covering the latest in national security law news. Watch the video here, if you aren’t getting enough Zoom.  This week we’ve got: DOJ’s Inspector General has come out with the first of what may be a series of reports on the quality of FBI’s procedures in preparing FISA applications.  This one is...

This is our second lockdown episode, simulcast as a Zoom-based video!  If you didn’t believe us before about our commitment to production authenticity ,  well you will if you watch the video version! [ed. note: guys, that’s not funny, you can’t blow off your lack of production values and slapdash approach to all this by claiming it makes you “authentic”!]  You should...

We may be on home lockdown, but that didn’t stop us from recording!  Thanks to the magic of Zoom, we gathered online to record this episode, and just for kicks we recorded the video while we were at it.  So, if you ever wondered what sort of faces we make at each other while recording, well, now’s your chance.  We’ll put the link for the video out, via the NSL Podcast twitter fee...

Are you “working” from home now?  Perhaps it’s time to take a break and enjoy the latest episode of the National Security Law Podcast.  In a discussion that takes the goal of let’s-not-prepare-too-much to new heights, your co-hosts Professors Bobby Chesney and Steve Vladeck are back to talk about: potential reauthorization this week of the three FISA provisions that otherwi...

Back-to-back episodes!  After yesterday’s interview-focused show, we wanted to get right back into the mix with discussion and debate over the latest national security law news.  Tune in for:  Beyond quarantine: What happens when local authorities declare an emergency and then bar people *released* from quarantine from being in the city? San Antonio wants to find out…  So Ken Cuccinell...

We are back with an interview-focused episode! Tune in as Professors Chesney and Vladeck interview Brigadier General John G. Baker, USMC.  General Baker is Chief Defense Counsel for the military commissions at Guantanamo. And, yes, there’s frivolity at the end…Bills-themed frivolity!

This week in the wild world of national security law, your co-hosts Professors Vladeck and Chesney discuss and debate: The prospects for legislative change to FISA (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), including notes on a currently-pending bill in the House Trumplandia and the ODNI: The statutory deadline for the Acting ODNI (now Richard Grenell) to continue to perform that function is Mar...

This week on NSL Podcast, co-hosts Steve Vladeck and Bobby Chesney discuss and debate: The U.S. government’s formal statement to Congress on the legal rationale for its airstrike against General Soleimani Trumplandia and law enforcement: the related, but distinct, issues associated with the use of the Pardon Power and the relationship between the President and federal prosecutors Does 18 USC...

And we’re back, with a fresh episode at last.  Tune in as co-hosts Steve Vladeck and Bobby Chesney discuss and debate the latest national security law developments.  This week they cover: Donald Trump pressuring Main DOJ to override the sentencing recommendation made by line prosecutors in order to help Roger Stone Donald Trump pressuring DOD to retaliate against Lt. Col. Vindman (followed b...

After a wholly-frivolous episode last week, we are back with…well…a slightly-frivolous episode this week.  Tune in as your co-hosts Steve Vladeck and Bobby Chesney review and debate: The likely procedural, jurisdictional, and other legal issues that may arise if and when the Senate issues a subpoena to John Bolton and the White House attempts to prevent his testimony. The Justice Depar...

Oh heavens, what were they thinking?  This week on the National Security Law Podcast, your hosts Steve Vladeck and Bobby Chesney bring you…well, not a single second of national security law talk.  Nope, instead this episode is all-frivolity from start to finish.   Movies, tv, sports, books…anything but the actual topic of the show!  But, hey, maybe you could use a break from the headli...

It’s episode 150, and to celebrate we have a special guest: The Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Christopher Krebs!  That’s right, we’ve got all the cybers this week, and a fun guest to walk us all through it.   That, plus a smattering of sign-stealing frivolity and Rush appreciation!  We’ll be back next week with our usual takes on t...

Not surprisingly, this weeks episode focuses entirely on the set of legal and policy questions raised by the airstrike that killed, among other, the Iranian general Qassim Soleimani in Iraq.  But of course there is still frivolity, too, as the show finishes with discussion of … Frozen II.

Tired of watching the impeachment?  Turn away from your monitor/tv, put in your earbuds, and go for a nice walk while listening to the latest National Security Law Podcast!  This week we have Professors Chesney and Vladeck discussing and debating: The DOJ OIG Report and its account of 17 significant errors associated with the FBI’s presentation of information in the series of FISA Title I ap...

Welcome back to the National Security Law Podcast!  This week we discuss: The two Articles of Impeachment The Inspector General’s Report on the origins and conduct of the FBI’s investigation into Russian election interference Amazon’s lawsuit arguing that President Trump improperly influenced the DOD cloud contract bid selection The NDAA and the legal framework for DoD to conduct...