The Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) in National Security and Counterterrorism Law is SPL’s cornerstone academic program. It is available both in our on-campus J.D. program and, separately, fully online in our JDinteractive program.
To achieve the certificate, law and graduate students will take 15 credits of interdisciplinary study on the topics of national security, counterterrorism, and other related fields. We strongly encourage students to contact the SPL office during the spring semester of their first year to register for the certificate and to discuss a course plan with staff. Through interdisciplinary coursework, students will:
- Determine the applicable legal rules from multiple sources of the law in the national security contexts and seek to reconcile any competing principles.
- Locate and evaluate research materials specific to the field of national security.
- Demonstrate writing capacity, preferably through drafting law and or policy memoranda.
- Solve security problems that require solutions and suggestions from non-law disciplines such as public administration, international relations, history, economics, social science, and political science.
CAS National Security and Counterterrorism Law JDr
CAS National Security and Counterterrorism Law JDi
Certificate Subjects and Fundamentals
- National Security: federal law, international law, operational law, geopolitics, foreign policy, defense strategy, humanitarian interventions, emerging technologies.
- Counterterrorism: legal definitions of terrorism, intelligence collection, surveillance, privacy, prosecution of terrorists, countering violent extremism.
- Homeland Security: civil-military relations, emergency management, disaster response, immigration law.
- Cybersecurity: the legal, policy, and technical aspects of cybersecurity, cyberespionage, computer crimes, countering cyber threats, critical infrastructure, artificial intelligence.
- Humanitarian Law: international law, international humanitarian law; human rights law, laws of war, refugee law, postconflict reconstruction, special courts, alternative justice.
Additional academic opportunities include group research projects, simulations, field trips, and study abroad. Students also can join the SPL-supported Student Association on Terrorism and Security Analysis, which produces a journal and hosts an annual conference.
Certificate Requirements
15 Credits of Coursework
- Including six credits from the Required Course list and nine credits from the Elective Course list, selected with the help of a faculty advisor and/or an SPL staff member.
- Maintain an overall 3.0 GPA average in required CAS courses. Courses that are taken pass/fail or audited will not count toward the certificate.
Capstone Project
- Examples of a Capstone Project include, but are not limited to, a research paper, clinical work, an externship, or a substantial collaborative project. The project must be approved by the Program Director.
- In place of a Capstone Project, students may take one or both of two classes whose cumulative work constitutes a Capstone Project. These classes, “Central Challenges in National Security Law & Policy” or “National Security & Counterterrorism Research Center”, are designated with a [C] on the Required Course list below.
Course List
Required Courses (Select courses from the list below to total Six Credits)
[W] = Course meets Writing Requirement [C] = Course meets Capstone Project requirement. All students must take one of the courses designated as (W) or get SPL approval for an academic paper written for credit in a law course or for a journal.
| Available to All Students | Available to On-Campus J.D. Students |
| National Security Law | Central Challenges in National Security Law & Policy [W] [C] |
| National Security & Counterterrorism Research Center [W] [C] | Cybersecurity Law & Policy [W] |
| Emerging Technologies & Global Security | Homeland Security Law & Policy |
| Counterterrorism & The Law |
Elective Courses (Select courses from the list below to total Nine Credits)
Elective courses change each semester. To view the most current graduate courses and descriptions, visit the College of Law Course Descriptions and the Graduate Course Catalog. All required courses may be used for electives to achieve the nine credit requirement.
| Available to All Students | Available to On-Campus J.D. Students | Available to Online JDinteractive Students |
| Emerging Technologies & Global Securities | Climate Change | EU-US Cooperation in Criminal Minds |
| Externship Placements (with approval from SPL) | Comparative Civil-Military Relations | Health Law and Policy |
| Independent Study (with approval from SPL) | Comparative Foreign Policy | Model Rules to Model Lawyers: Ethics in NS Lawyering |
| International Human Rights Law | Culture in World Affairs | Space Law and Policy: National Security’s Next Frontier |
| International Law | Federal Courts | |
| Veterans Legal Clinic (VLC) | Federal Criminal Law | |
| Fundamentals of Conflict Studies | ||
| Fundamentals of Postconflict Reconstruction | ||
| Follow the Money: Key Issues Illicit Finance | ||
| Health Law and Policy | ||
| Humanitarian Action: Challenges, Responses, Results | ||
| Immigration Law | ||
| International Security | ||
| International Security Theory | ||
| Internet Law | ||
| Law of the Global Commons | ||
| Perspectives on Terrorism | ||
| Political Leadership | ||
| Privacy Law | ||
| Responding to Proliferation of WMDs | ||
| Rule of Law in Postconflict Reconstruction | ||
| Transnational Crimes, Drugs, & Terrorism | ||
| UN Organizations: Managing for Change | ||
| US Defense Strategy, Military Posture & Combat Operations | ||
| US Intelligence Community: 1947 to the Present | ||
| US National Security & Foreign Policy |
Questions?
Email either Danielle Scharf or Keli Perrin, call SPL at 315.443.2284,
or visit us at 300 Dineen Hall.
How Do I Apply?
- We encourage you to apply as soon as you think you are interested. You MUST apply before you begin the last semester of your primary program.
- Complete a Graduate School Internal Admission Application Form and send to lawstudentrecords@syr.edu for a signature and approval. The form will be processed go to the Registrar. Please check your MySlice a week after submission to make sure it shows up under your account. If it does not, please contact Danielle Scharf (dlscharf@syr.edu) and we will make sure it has been submitted.
- Complete an SPL Proposed Program of Study Form and submit it to the SPL office.
How Do I Receive the Certificate?
- Law and graduate students must file a diploma request form on MySlice (and update their addresses). Filing on MySlice activates the certification process and awarding of a degree.
- In February/March of your final year, SPL will remind you to complete the Diploma Request Form and to submit a Final Program of Study Form.
- Projects or courses otherwise not listed may qualify for credit subject to approval by the Program Director. To petition to have non-listed study qualify for the CAS, complete a Waiver Petition Form and submit it to SPL.
- The Program Director will recommend granting the CAS in National Security and Counterterrorism Law to students who have met all of the requirements and who are in good standing.