TLS’ mission is to serve as a premier center for rigorous, interdisciplinary research and scholarship that addresses the challenges and opportunities at the intersection of emerging technology, law, and security—informing public awareness, fostering high level policy discussions, developing innovative solutions, and educating and empowering the next generation of leaders in the field.

The Technology, Law & Security Program (TLS) is an initiative launched in 2020 at American University Washington College of Law to explore the critical legal and policy questions arising from an increasingly dynamic technology landscape. We are at an inflection point. Advances in technology, including the advent and ubiquity of Artificial Intelligence and the future development of quantum computing, have created tremendous opportunities, but have also exposed, exacerbated, and in some ways created novel risks to individual, societal, and national security. TLS advances rigorous, interdisciplinary research at the intersection of emerging technology, law and security, offering innovative, rights-respecting solutions to the legal and governance issues of the technological age. 

Our work centers around four key focus areas: Cognitive Security in the Age of AI; Privacy, Data Governance, & Trust; Technology, National Security, and the Future of Competition and Conflict; and Technology and the Future of Law Enforcement. With a team of uniquely positioned experts, TLS collaborates with private and public sector partners, civil society, and academia to foster high-level policy dialogue, engage our students and fellows in cutting-edge research projects, and convene conferences, colloquia and workshops to inform public understanding of and develop practical solutions to the most pressing technology-related issues of our time. Through our research, engagement, and specialized legal education, TLS also prepares the next generation of leaders to navigate the complex relationship between technological innovation, security, and individual rights.