The Institute of World Politics is pleased to offer a new course: “Intelligence and the Law” (IWP 681). This course is designed to introduce students to the law governing the Intelligence Community and how that law underlies today’s hotly debated national security issues.
The Institute is pleased to welcome a new scholar-practitioner to the faculty to offer this course. Professor Paul Schilling is a graduate of the Georgetown School of Foreign Service and the Dickinson School of Law at Pennsylvania State University. Following graduation, Prof. Schilling served for four years as a Deputy Attorney General with the Pennsylvania Department of Justice and then for thirty years as an attorney in the Central Intelligence Agency’s Office of General Counsel.
Prof. Schilling’s Agency career spanned a tumultuous and challenging time for American intelligence and the CIA: the Iranian Revolution; the Iran-contra affair; the downing of Pan Am 103; the end of the Cold War; the first Gulf War; 9/11 and the global war on terrorism; the second Gulf War; and, the creation of the DNI.
Providing legal advice and counsel to senior Agency officials and handling high-profile litigation and legislative matters, Mr. Schilling was privileged to help meet those challenges. His work crossed various intelligence disciplines: foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, counterterrorism, and covert action. He provided service to virtually all Agency components, including its National Clandestine Service, Counterterrorism Center, and Office of Congressional Affairs.
The course is designed for students with little or no legal experience. They will begin by examining the constitutional and legal foundations of American intelligence. The class will trace its development through landmark cases, laws, and concepts from the Revolutionary War to the present day. They will examine the current organization of the Intelligence Community and then turn to issues of special concern today, including: intelligence collection on Americans; protecting intelligence information; and intelligence and the criminal law. They will finish with a look at the future, including issues such as cybersecurity. At semester’s end, students will understand how the law applies to the Intelligence Community and what that means for a career in the national security arena.
IWP plans to offer this course in summer 2016.