LibGuides: Military Law Research: Secondary Sources and Current Awareness

Legal Scholarship on National Security Law

Legal Scholarship and Current Awareness

National security law involves practice areas that are constantly evolving and subject to amendments or changes. Thus, legal researchers should always monitor legal scholarship, blogs, and news sources to stay updated on any developments in this area of the law.

National Security Law Journals

There are a few law journals dedicated to national security law issues. Full collections of each journal are available in HeinOnline. The following are recommended titles to use during your research:

Journal of National Security Law & Policy - Available online through the journal's website or via HeinOnline.
National Security Law Brief (2010-present) - Selected online content available through the journal's website; full collection available via HeinOnline
National Security Law Journal (2013-present) - Available online through the journal's website or via HeinOnline.

There are multiple other journals that address areas of the law that are relevant to national security law researchers, including international law, criminal law, immigration law, and constitutional law. You can view a list of those journals via HeinOnline's Law Journal Library subject guide.

Current Awareness Resources

Current awareness resources include law blogs and news outlets that report on national security law issues. Use these resources to track changes in the national security law field, identify possible research topics for seminar papers, or monitor important laws or regulations.

Bloomberg Law News - Legal news source that covers a variety of practice areas, including IP law, tech and telecom law, and white collar and criminal law. Also includes access to US Law Week. (Available to UNC Law Faculty and Students.)
Lawfare Blog - This blog provides articles and news updates written by experts in national security law and journalists who regularly report on developments in this field. The blog covers all aspects of national security law, including authorized use of military force, covert action, cybersecurity, detention, drones, homeland security, interrogation, laws of war, military commissions, secrecy, surveillance, and war powers. (Free online access.)
Lexis+'s Law 360 - Legal news source that covers a variety of practice areas, including national security law developments. (Available to UNC Law Faculty and Students.)

Recommended Secondary Sources

National Security Law by John Norton Moore (Editor); Robert F. Turner (Editor)
ISBN: 1594600236
Publication Date: 2005-01-01
From Homeric gods to galaxies to perspective in painting, Paul Feyerabend reveled in physical and cultural abundance. Struck, however, by the fact that human senses and intelligence can take in only a fraction of these riches, a fraction that limits and shapes our sense of reality, Feyerabend began writing Conquest of Abundance to decry these limitations. Unfinished when he died in 1994, this book represents a new way of thinking for this philosophical genius.
National Security and the Legal Process by Philip D. O'Neill
ISBN: 9780195374308
Publication Date: 2008-04-18
What are the legal limits for America's global war on terrorism? In this two-volume work, Philip O'Neill tackles this question so that the next generation of policymakers can make sensible, lawful decisions. In particular, he explores the international legal framework in which a nation mayact militarily against another state for the purpose of the acting state's internal security. The main text of this set addresses and questions the 'justified' use of military force when a country bases its action on questionable intelligence. Is the military act justified? What are theimplications and consequences of that act?The main volume of the set sheds light on these questions and on the general body of national security law as well as analyzes the legal foundation for international arms control in light of the global war on terror. O'Neill also provides a supplementary volume that saves researchers fromconducting hours of work online and in other, less comprehensive print resources. Speaking from the unique viewpoint of his decades of experience in international law and political consulting, O'Neill has arranged a thorough, but compact resource for creating effective and principled securitypolicy. National Security and the Legal Process offers readers a practical approach to resolving the age-old tensions between security and freedom and between self-defense and respect for sovereignty.
The National Security Court System by Glenn Sulmasy
ISBN: 9780195379815
Publication Date: 2009-08-06
The recent Boumediene v. Bush decision, which tossed aside the dysfunctional military court system envisioned by the Bush administration and upheld the right of habeas corpus for detainees, promises to throw national security law into chaos, and will also probably lead to the closing of Guantanamo. In this timely and much-needed book, Glenn Sulmasy, one of America's leading experts on national security law, opens with a much-needed history of America's long and complicated experience with such courts since the early days of the Republic. After tracing their evolution in the contemporary era, Sulmasy argues for a more sensible approach to the global war on terror's unique set of prisoners. He proposes a reasonable "third way" solution that avoids even more extreme measures, on the one hand, and a complete shuttering of the court system, on the other. Instead, he advocates creating a separate standing judicial system, overseen by civilian judges, that allows for habeas corpus appeals and which focuses exclusively on existing war-on-terror cases as well as the inevitable cases to come. For all those who want to explore the crucial legal issues behind the headlines about Gitmo and the rights of detainees, The National Security Court System offers a clear-headed assessment of where we are and where we ought to be going.
Homeland Security and Emergency Management by Ernest B. Abbott; Otto J. Hetzel (Editor); American Bar Association, Section of State and Local Government Law Staff (Contribution by)
ISBN: 9781641050180
Publication Date: 2019-12-07
This Legal Guide provides practical insight and guidance to help legal counsel for state, tribal, and local governments, as well as businesses and citizens to protect lives, property, public safety, and the public welfare consistent with relevelant laws and the Constitution--while also ensuring government and business clients act both according to the law and in a way that does not jeopardize their ability to obtain or maintain funding for the extraordinary costs generated by disaster events.
Whistleblowers, Leaks, and the Media by Timothy J. McNulty; Paul Rosenzweig; Ellen Shearer
ISBN: 9781627228251
Publication Date: 2015-11-07
The book, a compilation of essays that look at the constitutional foundations and limitations of the U.S. government in a contemporary context, examines how laws and freedoms collide when information is leaked to the media. It is a practical guide, in easy-to-understand language that journalists, lawyers, and government officials will find to be of great value.