The National Security Law Podcast

Welcome back to the National Security Law Podcast!  Tune in as Professors Vladeck and Chesney debate and discuss the week’s national security law news, including: Trumplandia: The House Intelligence Committee’s report shines a spotlight on certain call records, leading some to question how such records lawfully are obtained by investigators.  This leads to a discussion of the Fourth Am...

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  If you are stuck in an airport or on a long drive this week, we’ve got you covered for at least one hour, as Professors Chesney and Vladeck discuss and debate: The military commission cases: we provide a full “reset” bringing you up to speed on where things stand with each of the major cases (including a reminder about an important pending motion in th...

Episode 144 is here! It was no easy task to sort out which topics to discuss this week, but in the end the Trumplandia segment prevailed over almost all the others.  The end result?  Tune in to hear Professors Chesney and Vladeck discuss and debate: The latest developments in the Impeachment Inquiry (including today’s testimony from Ambassador Sondland). President Trump’s decision to i...

When you are done watching the impeachment hearings and just can’t take it anymore, it’s time to open up a can of … National Security Law Podcast!  For your happy hour or other occasions, we’ve got a fresh episode. Tune in as Professors Chesney and Vladeck discuss and debate: Yesterday’s SCOTUS argument in Hernandez (the cross-border shooting case, which Steve argued!...

What fun!  We recorded this one in front of a large live audience at the Annual Review of the Field conference run by the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security, and we did it as a joint podcast with our friends at ABA’s National Security Law Today podcast : Elisa Poteat and Yvette Bourcicot!  We covered: Islamic State detainees, included (but not limited to) the Beatles The app...

Granted, it’s not Days of Future Past, but our episode 141 is still pretty good!  This week, Professors Vladeck and Chesney discuss and debate: The al-Baghdadi raid (and misunderstandings about Congressional notification) A GTMO habeas decision in  Abdulrazzaq Who will be the next Secretary of Homeland Security? Debating the authority of an Acting Secretary to alter the order of succession a...

We’ve got a short one this week, but also we didn’t plan or prep much, so we have that going for us! Tune in as Professors Vladeck and Chesney discuss the 2nd Circuit oral argument in  Trump v. Vance  (regarding the President’s claim of temporary immunity from criminal investigation), and a pair of important Supreme Court cert.  grants (one involving the scope of the Suspension C...

We recorded today before a live audience in Austin! Austin Hall, that is, on the campus of Harvard Law School!  Special thanks to Matt Morris and the great students of the Harvard National Security & Law Association, and to all who attended! We certainly didn’t lack for topics.  Professors Vladeck and Chesney discussed and debated: The “Beatles” detainees: What are the hurdle...

In addition to quoting They Might Be Giants lyrics, this week’s episode features cohosts Bobby Chesney and Steve Vladeck taking on three big issues: The Impeachment Inquiry & the White House Counsel’s Letter on Non-Cooperation President Trump’s decision to abandon America’s Kurdish allies and thus set in motion the potential release of thousands of Islamic State fighter...

So, you’ll never guess what we’re going to talk about in this week’s episode. [Editor’s note: Guys, you can’t just say that and then put in no further details in these shownotes. Get back to work!  Hello, are you there?  Amateurs…]

And we’re back, with a lot of news to cover!  Tune in for discussion and (respectful) debate with our cohosts, Professors Vladeck and Chesney, as the review: Is it proper for the DNI to withhold from HPSCI a whisteblower complaint under the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act (ICWPA…Ick-Wipp-Uh!), where the IG has made a determination that the statutory standard has bee...

Tune in to the latest episode of the National Security Law Podcast as your co-hosts Professors Chesney and Vladeck discuss and debate: On the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks: which elements of current counterterrorism law and policy would have come as the biggest surprise back in 2001?  This includes a discussion of the removal of John Bolton as National Security Adviser. The district court r...

And we are back with more discussion and debate of the latest national security legal news! Tune in for cohosts Steve Vladeck and Bobby Chesney as they take up: Domestic terrorism and the questions such as (a) whether there ought to be a “designation” process for domestic groups and (b) whether the phrase “civilian population” presents vagueness issues if employed in a crim...

Well, that’s not  quite  what the President said.  It was something about American companies and trade with China, not you and your podcast app.  And IEEPA can’t be used to make anyone listen to this podcast, we suppose.  But voluntary cooperation is welcome, and those who tune in this week won’t be disappointed when they find co-hosts Vladeck and Chesney discussing and debating:...

And we are back with more debate and discussion concerning the latest national security and law news!  In this week’s episode, co-hosts Bobby Chesney and Steve Vladeck explore: The legal complexities that followed from the resignation of Sue Gordon as Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence and the follow-on appointment of Adm. Joe Maguire (up to that point the Director of the Nat...

This week’s episode features an extended discussion of domestic terrorism as a legal category and as a policy category, in light of the attack in El Paso.  Among other aspects, we discuss: Substantive criminal charging options at the state and federal levels Arguments for an against federal expansion into this area Federal terrorism crimes that can be applied in domestic terrorism cases The...

And we’re back with a new episode, with co-hosts Steve Vladeck and Bobby Chesney discussing and debating the latest national security law news (and, let’s face it, engaging in *lots* of digressions).  This week we’ve got: Succession-Fest:  We go deep into the weeds on a number of succession-in-office topics involving people named to be “acting” this-or-that.  Of cours...

This week on the National Security Law Podcast, with co-hosts Bobby Chesney and Steve Vladeck: War Powers:  Congressional testimony from the State Department’s Acting Legal Advisor confirms that the administration has placed AQIM on the list of “associated forces” within the organizational scope of the 2001 AUMF, notes that the administration has not (yet) determined that Iran is...

For our latest episode, we offer you NSL Podcast Mad Libs in lieu of show notes! We’re back after a __ [number]-week break, and there have been some ____ [noun] security law developments in the meantime!  Professors ____ [full name of celebrity] and [full name of sports star] are here to ____ [verb] all of it.  ___ [adjective] ____ [plural noun] on this episode include: Justice Stevens, R.I....

Welcome back to the National Security Law Podcast, where co-hosts Bobby Chesney and Steve Vladeck cross-swords with courtesy and nerdistry while reviewing the latest national security legal news (along with a healthy does of frivolity at the end…and sometimes the middle…and the beginning…)!  This will be the last episode until July 17th or 18th, and it covers: Doe v. Mattis is ba...

We are back with the latest in national security legal developments, with Professors Chesney and Vladeck agreeing where they can and arguing respectfully (and, let’s face it, nerdishly) where they can’t.  On tap this week: Military Detention and the Constitution : We dive deep into the questions raised by the D.C. Circuits decision in  Qassim , which raises the possibility that the Fif...

We are back with the latest national security law news, with your co-hosts Steve Vladeck and Bobby Chesney explaining, debating, and–let’s face it–geeking out.  This week we’ve got: War Powers: The latest events in the simmering situation with Iran, and what they portend in terms of potential claims of Article II authority to use at least some amount of military force witho...

And we are back, after a one-week hiatus, with loads of national security law debate and discussion, not to mention some Grade B frivolity! On tap for Professors Vladeck and Chesney: Detention of Enemy Combatants: Assessing the significance of the SCOTUS cert. denial in al-Alwi , and Justice Breyer’s statement about the possible impact of evolving circumstances over time NDAA FY’20 Dra...

In a final episode before taking a one-week travel break, co-hosts Bobby Chesney and Steve Vladeck discuss and debate an array of recent national security law developments including: Assange & the Espionage Act : DOJ has unsealed a superseding indictment against Julian Assange, including a raft of Espionage Act charges with serious (and long-anticipated) implications for journalists.  The indi...

In this week’s episode, Professors Vladeck and Chesney discuss and debate: The district court ruling in  Trump v. Committee on Oversight , in which the court rejects an attempt to quash a subpoena directed at an accounting firm that handled work for various Trump organizations. The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion asserting blanket testimonial immunity for former White House Counsel Don...