This area includes a wide range of challenges to policies and actions relating to the national security, national defense, and foreign policies of the United States. Suits in this area include constitutional, statutory and regulatory challenges to national security, foreign affairs, and military policies. Defense of these actions include representation of officials in their official capacities, including the President, the Department of State, the Department of Defense and its various components, the Armed Forces of the United States, and the Intelligence Community, including the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence. One of the main objectives in defending such suits is to protect the constitutional prerogatives of the Executive Branch in the areas of national security, national defense, and foreign policy.

This area includes litigation involving defense of United States’ foreign intelligence surveillance activities undertaken under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act; the protection of classified national security information through the state secrets privilege and through the defense or enforcement of non-disclosure “pre-publication” review requirements; the defense of military personnel policies and actions; the defense of United States’ watchlisting policies to protect U.S. transportation systems, including challenges to the No Fly List and Terrorist Screening Database; the defense of the law enforcement and counter-terrorism investigative actions of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and related FBI information; and the defense of foreign policy interests of the United States, including the defense of U.S. policies being undertaken overseas, the presentation of the United States’ position in cases raising challenges against foreign states under the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act; and assertions of immunity by the United States for certain foreign officials and international organizations subject to judicial process in U.S. courts. This area also includes the defense of the United States’ interests and actions in habeas proceedings brought by terrorist detainees held by the United States in Guantanamo, Cuba.

[updated April 2018]