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The National Security Law Podcast: The Big Chill

Robert Chesney, Steve Vladeck
Tuesday, December 19, 2017, 4:31 PM

Are your other podcasts letting you down by taking a holiday break? Never fear, the National Security Law Podcast is here! With two hosts who would much rather be podcasting than grading exams, you are assured of an uninterrupted holiday stream of national security legal analysis, not to mention ill-informed takes on movie soundtracks. Seems your hosts may have been in the eggnog a bit early this year. But nevermind that, let’s get to the overview of what episode 50 has to offer:

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Are your other podcasts letting you down by taking a holiday break? Never fear, the National Security Law Podcast is here! With two hosts who would much rather be podcasting than grading exams, you are assured of an uninterrupted holiday stream of national security legal analysis, not to mention ill-informed takes on movie soundtracks. Seems your hosts may have been in the eggnog a bit early this year. But nevermind that, let’s get to the overview of what episode 50 has to offer:

  1. A postmortem on the mixed verdict in the trial of Abu Khatallah, the Benghazi mastermind, in late November: The jury acquitted on the most serious charges but did convict on others. What will this mean, if anything, for the long-running debate regarding disposition options for terrorism suspects? And why did the trial turn out that way?
  2. The presidential transition team emails provided to the special counsel by General Services Administration: Beneath the political aspects, what are the constitutional, statutory, or other legal considerations that should inform this story?
  3. Still waiting on 702 … we’ve been waiting all year to find out what Congress will do with respect to Section 702 renewal, and it seems we will have to wait just a bit longer, for as of this morning there still was no action. Meanwhile, the same is true about the pending motion for jurisdictional discovery in American Civil Liberties Union Foundation v. Mattis. Chances are good that both of those will see significant developments in the days ahead, so stay tuned for episode 51 (which we are likely to record on Wednesday next week).

Of course, it wouldn’t be the National Security Law Podcast without a discussion of frivolous matters at the end. This week’s topic: all-time great movie soundtracks. We heard through the grapevine that this would be a contentious discussion …

Happy holidays to all!


Topics:
Robert (Bobby) Chesney is the Dean of the University of Texas School of Law, where he also holds the James A. Baker III Chair in the Rule of Law and World Affairs at UT. He is known internationally for his scholarship relating both to cybersecurity and national security. He is a co-founder of Lawfare, the nation’s leading online source for analysis of national security legal issues, and he co-hosts the popular show The National Security Law Podcast.
Steve Vladeck is a professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law. A 2004 graduate of Yale Law School, Steve clerked for Judge Marsha Berzon on the Ninth Circuit and Judge Rosemary Barkett on the Eleventh Circuit. In addition to serving as a senior editor of the Journal of National Security Law & Policy, Steve is also the co-editor of Aspen Publishers’ leading National Security Law and Counterterrorism Law casebooks.

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