News
Not today, I do not want to get bogged down.
Assignment
Finish Chapter 5
Slides for Chapter 5 – Revised (I clarified some slides in today’s section and add some to better illustrate the DFE)
Archives for January 2023
Day 7 – 31 Jan
News
Access to sophisticated computer chips is a primary battleground in national security law. This podcast discusses the chip war between the US and China, and why chips are the key strategic value of Taiwan. In a related story, the two key countries that build the equipment to make chips have agreed to not sell to China: Japan, Netherlands Agree to Limit Exports of Chip-Making Equipment to China
Assignment
Finish Chapter 4
Slides for Chapter 4 from last class. Slightly revisions in the slides we did not cover last class.
Read Chapter 5 over the weekend. This will carry us through the next class as well.
Slides for Chapter 5 – Revised
Day 6 – 26 Jan
Moodle Attendance
There are three options to choose for attendance status: present, corrected, and absent. Moodle auto-populated the point allocation for each, giving “present” 2 points, “corrected” 1 point, and “absent” 0 points.
As the “corrected” status is merely used for administrative purposes, and functionally serves the same purpose as “present,” the point allocations for both “present” and “corrected” have been set to 1.
News
Breaking news – Biden Announces Abrams Tanks to be Delivered to Ukraine
Great resource – The Modern War Institute (West Point)
The trillion-dollar coin scheme, explained by the guy who invented it
Debt Ceilings, Bombs, Cliff and the Trillion Dollar Coin
Assignments
Slides for Chapter 4 – revised
Carry over the assignment from last class (day 5)
Day 5 – 24 Jan
News
Students and Experts Agree: TikTok Bans Are Useless
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test Is a Smashing Success
BBC: Ukraine war: Germany won’t block export of its Leopard 2 tanks, foreign minister says.
Presidental emergency powers and the debt crisis
The debt limit catch-22: Will Congress hand Biden its power of the purse?
Biden Can Raise the Debt Ceiling Without Congress
Assignment
We will finish discussing Chapter 3. Slides for Chapter 3 – revised
Read Chapter 4. I have introduced most of the issues in Chapter 4 as we went through Chapter 3. That should allow us to cover the material more efficiently. We will not finish this chapter in one class, but we will go as far as we have time. Some of the early issues in the chapter make more sense after you have read the latter part of the chapter.
Read the supplement pp. 2-7. There is an edited excerpt from U.S. House of Representatives v. Mnuchin which finds that Congress does have standing to bring a challenge to a violation of congressional limitations on the use of appropriated money. There is also a note on the final disposition of Trump v. Sierra Club, which ends in limbo when the Biden administration ended the state of emergency and asked the Supreme Court to remove the case from its docket.
Slides for Chapter 4 – revised
Day 4 – 19 Jan
News
How China planted an FBI mole who was discovered only after gutting the CIA’s vast spy network
Assignment
Finish reading Chapter 3.
Slides for Chapter 3 – revised
Slides posted before class are always subject to revision. If I revise them, I will post the revision before class so you can download it for your notes. Revisions are usually minor, just things I find as I am preparing for class. I am going to try to post slides a few days before class so you can use them to guide your readings.
Posted slides do not include polling slides or copyright images used for decoration.
Resources
Day 3 – 17 Jan
News
Open-source intelligence is piercing the fog of war in Ukraine
Assignment
Read Chapter 3, to B. The Commander in Chief’s War Powers. p 55.
Day 2 – January 12
News
Computer breakdown sows chaos across US air travel system
Don’t panic. It might not be a cyberattack.
I survived Guantánamo. Why is it still open 21 years later?
Assignment
Finish discussion of Chapter 1
Read Chapter 2. It is a short read, but it raises fundamental issues about the structure of the US government. Be prepared to discuss.
Resources – Source of national security powers
Constitutional Powers
Congressional Powers
Presidential Powers
Ambiguous Powers