Since 1995 the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security (LENS) has hosted an annual national security law conference in Durham, N.C. The conference promotes education and discussion of the complex and diverse issues involved in national security, such as the legal and policy implications of counterterrorism operations at home and abroad, the international law of armed conflict, the impact of new technology on security issues, and the ethical issues of the practice of national security law.

Duke's Center on Law, Ethics and National Security (LENS) held its annual national security conference on February 24-25, 2017 at Duke Law School. The 2017 LENS conference was titled "Cyber, Security & Surveillance: Truth & Consequences."

Cyber & Surveillance
Moderator: Ms. Erin Wirtanen, Central Intelligence Agency
Prof. William Banks, Syracuse Law School
Ms. Susan Hennessy, Brookings Institution
Prof. Michael A. Newton, Vanderbilt Law School
Ms. Mieke Eoyang, Third Way

Moderator: Professor William Banks, Syracuse University
Professor Laura Donahue, Georgetown Law
Mr. Robert Litt, ODNI General Counsel (invited)
Ms. Kate Martin, Center for National Security Studies
Ms. Erin Wirtanen, Central Intelligence Agency

The 2015 LENS Conference, Law in the Age of 'Forever War', focuses on the legal issues that accompany warfare in a time when technology, relationships between nations, and the abilities of non-state actors to affect the international stage, are all changing rapidly. Speakers address some of the difficult issues that have come to define modern law as it relates to warfare: targeting, surveillance, home-grown terrorism, intelligence gathering in the digital age, ensuring human rights and civil liberties.