Hard National Security Choices
Support Monday, August 21, 2017
Menu

Robert Chesney

Bobby Chesney is the Charles I. Francis Professor in Law and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Texas School of Law. He also serves as the Director of UT-Austin's interdisciplinary research center the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law. His scholarship encompasses a wide range of issues relating to national security and the law, including detention, targeting, prosecution, covert action, and the state secrets privilege; most of it is posted here. Along with Ben Wittes and Jack Goldsmith, he is one of the co-founders of the blog.

Subscribe to this Lawfare contributor via RSS.

Podcasts

The National Security Law Podcast: We Were Not Mirandized Until Halfway Through This Podcast

Robert Chesney, Steve Vladeck   Wed, Aug 16, 2017, 7:40 PM

In this week’s episode, Professors Chesney and Vladeck make a whole series of blatantly un-Mirandized statements about some of the latest national security law developments. First, they take up a number of questions relating to the events in Charlottesville. Was the murder an act of “domestic terrorism”? What does federal criminal law have to say about domestic terrorism?

The National Security Law Podcast

The National Security Law Podcast: Don’t Pop the Accountability Champagne Quite Yet

Robert Chesney, Steve Vladeck   Wed, Aug 9, 2017, 10:13 AM

In this bizarrely titled episode (OK, they pretty much all have bizarre titles), Professors Vladeck and Chesney take on four developments in national security law from the past week: Salim v. Mitchell, ramping up of the Justice Department's anti-leak efforts, possible drone strikes on ISIS in the Philippines, and an in-the-weeds discussion on treaty law.

Cyber Command

Separating NSA and CYBERCOM? Be Careful When Reading the GAO Report

Robert Chesney   Mon, Aug 7, 2017, 1:01 PM

The Government Accountability Office last week published a report that, among other things, weighs in on the pros and cons of the NSA/CYBERCOM “dual-hat” system (pursuant to which the director of the NSA/CSS and commander of CYBERCOM are the same person). The report deserves attention but also some criticism and context. Here’s a bit of all three.

1. What is the “dual-hat” issue?

Podcasts

The National Security Law Podcast: Military Commissions, Military Officers in the Cabinet, the Laws of War, and More

Robert Chesney, Steve Vladeck   Tue, Aug 1, 2017, 5:46 PM

This week’s episode certainly has a military theme. Professors Chesney and Vladeck start off with a surprisingly (or is it disturbingly?) lengthy discussion of the writ of mandamus litigation currently pending in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in connection with military commission proceedings. It’s like sitting in a Fed Courts class, except with worse jokes (doesn’t matter who your professor is, she or he surely was funnier than this).

CYBERCOM

Should NSA and CYBERCOM Split? The Legal and Policy Hurdles as They Developed Over the Past Year

Robert Chesney   Mon, Jul 24, 2017, 2:36 PM

In light of Michael Sulmeyer’s excellent recent piece on splitting NSA and CYBERCOM, which ran at War on the Rocks last week, I want to pull together some of the key legal and policy developments of the past year in a single narrative.  My aim is to put them in context with each other in a way that will provide useful background for those new to this issue, while also putting a spotlight on the deconfliction-of-equities issue that the split proposal raises.