Shortbursts: Early fall edition!
Shortbursts is an occasional feature of Lawfire® designed to provide quick updates on a variety of matters.
Duke Law grad selected as Canada’s first Vice Judge Advocate General
Without question, Steve Strickey–who obtained his LLM at Duke Law in 2012–is one of the finest students I’ve had the honor to teach. Super-smart, phenomenally hard-working, and extremely personable, Steve is impressive in so many ways. And, clearly the Canadian Armed Forces realize that. Steve’s just made history, and I’m thrilled to share the official announcement with you:
Col Strickey was named as the first Vice JAG in the history of the Canadian Armed Forces where he will offer strategic support to the Judge Advocate General and act as Deputy Commander for the over 400 lawyers and civilian staff in Canada and around the globe.
Steve has an awesome bio, and this is an enormous and extraordinarily well-deserved accomplishment! I could not be happier for him–and for the Canadian people! Congrats!!!!!!
Fall speakers at Duke Law!
We have a great lineup of speakers cosponsored with Duke’s National Security Law Society:
New additions to the LENS Conference agenda!
In a previous “Shortburst” we announced some of our speakers and panelists for our 29th Annual National Security Law conference set for 23-24 February 2024, and today we’ll add to the list.
Department of Defense General Counsel Caroline Krass has agreed to join us for a ‘fireside chat.’ She has had what can only be described as a truly phenomenal career in public service (check out her bio here!) as well as in the private sector. Among her recent accomplishments is an extremely important speech on cyberspace law (here) and the first Law of War Manual revisions since 2016. You will not want to miss her remarks!
Our panel on space law is growing! Professor Chris Borgen from St. John’s Law where he is Co-Director of the Center for International and Comparative Law has agreed to participate. Here’s an extract from his amazing bio: “A past Co-Chair of the American Society of International Law’s Space Law Interest Group, in 2018 Professor Borgen was also named a “core expert” for a proposed “Manual on the International Law of Military Space Operations,” colloquially known as ‘The Woomera Manual.'”
CDR Tracy Reynolds, USN, has also agreed to be on the panel. You may recall that she wrote a guest post in January entitled “China & the Moon & the Law.” Among other things, Tracy is a remote PhD student through the University of Adelaide, and her thesis is intriguing, i.e., that maritime law can and should serve as an analogue to the development of the outer space legal regime.
We’ve got a terrific moderator and experienced lawyer for the panel: Colonel Ted Richard, USAF. Ted is a prolific writer with lots of operations law experience. He is also a Lawfire® contributor (see here) and is currently serving as the Staff Judge Advocate at Space Operations Command.
“The Future and Ethics of Uncrewed and Autonomous Warfare” conference
I am truly honored to be among the keynote speakers for the upcoming Global and National Security Institute (GNSI) conference at the University of South Florida (USF). Presented in partnership with the USF College of Arts and Sciences, the United States Central Command (USCENTCOM) and the Near East South Asia (NESA) Center for Strategic Studies, the conference is entitled “The Future and Ethics of Uncrewed and Autonomous Warfare.”
I’ll be speaking about my concerns regarding the Pentagon’s new Civilian Harm Mitigation Response-Action Plan, and how it could frustrate mission accomplishment and even put civilians in more jeopardy than is necessary. The conference has a wide variety of amazing speakers and will be both in-person and live-streamed. You can register here.
New ‘must read’ book on civil-military relations!
Last week I attended a terrific book talk about my Duke University colleague and friend of many years, Dr. Peter Feaver, and his new book, Thanks for Your Service: The Causes and Consequences of Public Confidence in the U.S. Military. He was interviewed by another top civ-mil relations expert, Georgetown’s Dr. Heidi Urben and the dialogue and information held the attention of everyone in the room. 
I hope to provide you with a book review in the not-too-distant future, but for now just know that it’s worth it to get it. This is an important new work that I am certain will be discussed not only in academia, but also in professional military educational institutions, and, hopefully, the civilian community.
Mark your calendars!
