
Since the Revolutionary War, America's military and political leaders have recognized that U.S. national security depends upon the collection of intelligence. Absent information about foreign threats, the thinking went, the country and its citizens stood in great peril. To address this, the Courts and Congress have historically given the President broad leeway to obtain foreign intelligence. But in order to find information about an individual in the United States, the executive branch had to demonstrate that the person was an agent of a foreign power. Today, that barrier no longer exists. The intelligence community now collects massive amounts of data and then looks for potential threats to the United States.As renowned national security law scholar Laura K. Donohue explains in The Future of Foreign Intelligence, global communications systems and digital technologies have changed our lives in countless ways. But they have also contributed to a worrying transformation. Together with statutory alterations instituted in the wake of 9/11, and secret legal interpretations that have only recently become public, new and emerging technologies have radically expanded the amount and type of information that the government collects about U.S. citizens. Traditionally, for national security, the Courts have allowed weaker Fourth Amendment standards for search and seizure than those that mark criminal law. Information that is being collected for foreign intelligence purposes, though, is now being used for criminal prosecution. The expansion in the government's acquisition of private information, and the convergence between national security and criminal law threaten individual liberty.Donohue traces the evolution of U.S. foreign intelligence law and pairs it with the progress of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence. She argues that the bulk collection programs instituted by the National Security Agency amount to a general warrant, the prevention of which was the reason the Founders in
How has the evolution of digital surveillance and foreign intelligence law fundamentally altered the balance between U.S. national security and individual Fourth Amendment rights? Laura K. Donohue, a scholar in national security law, examines the historical trajectory of intelligence gathering from the Revolutionary War to the post-9/11 era. She argues that the shift from targeted surveillance to bulk data collection, combined with the blurring lines between national security and criminal law, creates a systemic threat to constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Legal scholars and policy analysts recognize this work as a rigorous examination of the constitutional implications of modern surveillance technology. Experts highlight the text for its detailed synthesis of historical legal precedents and contemporary national security practices.
Page Count:
208
Publication Date:
2016-03-22
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0190235381
ISBN-13:
9780190235383
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