Lawyers have a special challenge in the mission to keep our country safe: by updating legal frameworks to support today’s intelligence operations, according to Corin Stone, deputy director of National Intelligence for Strategy & Engagement, who spoke at an Ameican Bar Association Law and National Security breakfast on March 5. The Office of the Director of National Security (ODNI) leads the nation’s 17 intelligence agencies.
LAW AND NATIONAL SECURITY
Federal official outlines lawyers’ national security role
As the national security threat landscape shifts and becomes increasingly complex, Stone said that these intelligence agencies must think about the law in new ways and be innovative and creative. “A lot of the legal frameworks we’re working with are decades old, and they really don’t fit with the time we’re in today. So much of what we’ve done in the past has always been based on explicit statutory and regulatory language and precedents, and much of what we’re headed toward is not something we’ve done before.”
Stone said one of the ODNI’s strategic goals is to make it easier for lawyers and other professionals to move faster and more easily between government service and the private sector. “There’s a lot of great legal work out there to be done, so hopefully some of you will take up the challenge and help us navigate through these changes that are going to have to be made.”
Related links:
- ABA Journal: As state actors continue to wage cyberwar on the United States, they have a powerful ally—gaps and ambiguities in the law
- National Intelligence Strategy of the United States 2019
- ABA Cybersecurity Legal Task Force resource page
- National Security Today – ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security podcast
- “The U.S. Intelligence Community Law Sourcebook, 2017 Edition”
- “The ABA Cybersecurity Handbook: A Resource for Attorneys, Law Firms, and Business Professionals, Second Edition”