How should scholars of the Middle East consider US law in their research designs, field sites, and interactions with subjects? How do political and financial support for specific types of research structure scholarly opportunities and incentives? Drawing on experiences studying militant organizations in the Middle East between 2007 and 2014, this paper explores the ways in which US law and the “War on Terror” shape scholarship on violence and contentious politics in the Middle East. Referencing recent legal cases at Boston College and the University of Virginia as well as the Abidor v. Napolitano filing, it challenges scholars’ current understandings of vulnerability, confidentiality, and third-party access to academics’ unpublished data. Specifically, this paper outlines five ways in which contemporary US law and politics interact with and frame scholarly research in the Middle East: through potential criminal investigations and associated treaty obligations (e.g. MLATs), via the border search exception, via potential Freedom of Information Act requests, through state data practices acts, via Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations, and through grant making and evaluation linked to national security interests. Moreover, it notes specificities in contemporary law—such as the lack of researcher protections in state level “sunshine laws” and national security interest clauses—that affect public university employees, recipients of government funding, and foreign academics working in the US. The paper then evaluates how these legal institutions mold researchers’ relationships both in the field and “back home.” First, it argues that US laws create tensions with traditional understandings of core ethical principles such as confidentiality. Second, it contends that legal structures should be incorporated into discussions of reflexivity and intersubjectivity. Finally, it develops recommendations for improved researcher training and research design, including the incorporation of relevant legal knowledge into graduate education.