About

The Harvard National Security Journal (NSJ) is a student-edited online journal dedicated to improving scholarship and discourse in the field of national security. The field of national security has grown significantly over the past several years, with a corresponding demand for critical scholarly analysis on its legal and policy dimensions. Complicated issues regarding separation of powers, executive authority in the Global War on Terror, the role of the Fourth Amendment in national security surveillance, and the legality of coercive interrogation techniques have challenged our policy-makers and lawyers alike in fields from constitutional law to military law and human rights. To date, however, much of the academic literature on national security has been published in journals of related fields such as international law or public policy. Such diffusion of thought impedes the generation of reflective dialogue and productive dialectic. NSJ aims to foster such dialogue with an eye toward effectively influencing policy by bringing together a diversity of perspectives and expertise in one location.

As an online journal, NSJ seeks to provide a unified source for timely ideas and debate in a rapidly changing landscape. NSJ seeks well-researched scholarship from academics and practitioners and encourages responses to previously published pieces. Our online format accommodates primarily short, targeted pieces with practical application as well as theoretical discussions. We believe this model will increase the range of academic perspectives that can be engaged. For more information on submissions, please click here.

NSJ is a non-partisan and unbiased source that does not necessarily support the views of its articles. The field of national security is often divisive, but NSJ endeavors to provide a source of information where a broad diversity of views are welcome and given balanced weight.

Permission to Copy: The articles in the Journal may be reproduced and distributed, in whole or in part, by nonprofit institutions for educational purposes including distribution to students, provided that the copies are distributed at or below cost and identify the author, the Harvard National Security Journal, the volume, and the year of the article’s publication.