About The Course

This course examines the use of civilian Article III courts to prosecute terrorists by following the logical course of a prosecution - legal basis, investigative techniques, litigation and sentencing issues. Major topics include: Principles of counter-terrorist prosecutions, major legislative packages, definitions of terrorism, numerous selected criminal statutes, overview of the intelligence community, overview of federal law enforcement agencies, use and protection national security information, Fourth Amendment framework, the Attorney General's Guidelines, U.S. agents acting abroad, electronic surveillance, interviews and interrogation, use of the grand jury, material witness, the Classified Information Procedures Act, physical security, witness protection, relevant United States Sentencing Commission Guidelines, litigation strategies and case studies.

Our primary text is: National Security Investigations & Prosecutions by David S. Kris (currently Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division) and J. Douglas Wilson. This will be an expensive but great text for us.  More information can be found about it at this link. Also, here are some reviews of it:

"...the single best treatment of the topic...." - From the Preface by Royce C. Lamberth, U. S. District Judge for the District of Columbia; former Presiding Judge, U. S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

"... lucid legal analysis... firmly rooted in operational experience, bridging the gap between theory and practice...." - Laurence H. Silberman, Judge, U. S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit.

You will also need two white papers -- In Pursuit of Justice: Prosecuting Terrorism Cases in the Federal Courts and In Pursuit of Justice: Prosecuting Terrorism Cases in the Federal Courts, 2009 Update and Recent Developments -- available as free downloads. The first is here. The second is here.

For additional context, I recommend reading Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad by Andrew J. McCarthy, the former Assistant United States Attorney who led the prosecution of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and eleven others.

 

About the Professor

William C. Snyder is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law for the 2009-2010 school year at the Syracuse University College of Law. He is teaching Federal Criminal Law, Computer Crimes, Terrorism and the Law, Prosecuting Terrorists in Article III Courts, and Evidence. In addition, he assists at the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism, a joint venture of Syracuse University's College of Law and its Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Professor Snyder has been teaching at the College of Law since 2006.

In April 2008, the Foundation for Defense of Democracy named Professor Snyder an Academic Fellow for 2008-2009. Mr. Snyder was the 2004-2005 Fellow in Government Law and Policy at the Albany Law Schools Government Law Center. A career federal prosecutor prior to joining the Government Law Center, Mr. Snyder served over 13 years as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) in the Western District of Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia. Prior to receiving his law degree, Mr. Snyder served as an Assistant to the Attorney General of the United States and was Deputy Administrative Assistant to Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh.

As an AUSA, Mr. Snyder initiated prosecution of the largest felony case in the history of the Western District of Pennsylvania while assigned as legal counsel to the Greater Pittsburgh Violent Crimes/ Gang Task Force. In addition, he participated in intelligence investigations and drafted emergency plans while assigned to that district's Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council. He served as the district's Crisis Response Manager.

Mr. Snyder received his Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude in political science with a concentration in international relations from Yale College of Yale University. He received his Juris Doctor degree magna cum laude from Cornell Law School where he served on the Cornell Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.

Since 2005, Mr. Snyder taught National Security Law, Current Legal Issues in Government and Fact Investigation as an Adjunct Professor at Albany Law School. In 2006 and 2007 he taught Prosecuting Terrorists in Article III Courts at the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism at Syracuse University. In addition, he teaches criminal law and procedure to local police departments. He has also lectured on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act following his service on the Greater Pittsburgh Violent Crime and Gang Task Force that resulted in a ground-breaking racketeering prosecution.

Mr. Snyder is a member of the Bar of the United States Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He is also a member of the International Bar Association.

 

 

Professor William C. Snyder