Shortbursts: Midsummer Edition

Shortbursts is an occasional feature of Lawfire^® designed to provide brief news pieces or updates on a variety of matters.

Speakers confirming for the LENS Conference!

Duke Law’s Center on Law, Ethics and National Security (LENS) will hold its 30th Annual National Security Law Conference on Friday, 28 February and Saturday morning, 1 Mar 2025.  We”ll have another lineup of stellar speakers, and here are several who have confirmed:

General Frank McKenzie, USMC (Ret), will deliver the annual leadership speech.  As some readers may know, he commanded U.S. Central Command during a number of high profile operations, including the strike that killed ISIS terrorist Abu Bakr al Baghdadi well as Iran’s General Qassem Soleimani. 

He also commanded the evacuation from Kabul in the summer of 2021 an event he details in his book, The Melting Point: High Command and War in the 21st Century.

Professor Harold Hongju Koh, whose bio quite accurately describes him as “one of the country’s leading experts in public and private international law, national security law, and human rights,” formerly served as the State Department’s Legal Advisor.  He will speak about his provocative new book, The National Security Constitution in the 21st Century.

I am particularly interested in hearing Professor Koh’s current ideas because his seminal 1990 book, The National Security Constitution, was an important part of my own development in this area

Another newcomer to the LENS Conference will be Rachel Kent, a partner at the firm of WilmerHale, and Vice Chair, of the International Arbitration Practice Group.  She’ll speak to some of issues related to national security she’s seen in her practice.  What is especially exciting about having Rachel as a participant is that she’s a Duke Law grad!

Attendees will also be treated to presentations by previous conference speakers who are returning by popular demand.  Mr. Dean Cheng, currently at the United States Institute of Peace, will again be our Friday luncheon speaker.  We can look forward to hearing an insightful update on developments with respect to China.

Also returning is another conference favorite, Col (ret.) Adam Oler,  Adam is now a professor at the National War College and Lawfire^® contributor. We can count on Adam to give us his insights on key national security issues, and do so in a way that is a textbook example of clarity. 

(And, yes, we will shortly be posting the video of his exceptionally well-received presentation on the history of Middle East conflict at the 29th Annual Conference!)

Former LENS Conference speaker confirmed as a judge

I am very pleased to report that Colonel Kate Oler, USAF (Ret.) was confirmed as a judge for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.  Kate made a presentation  entitled “Professional Responsibility, Ethics & the National Security Lawyer: Distinctions with a Difference” for Duke Law’s 24^th Annual National Security Law conference .

While in the Air Force Kate served a tour as my executive officer, and we visited bases around the world (including a short stop in Iraq in 2007). One of the many things about her that makes me most proud to know her is the fact that after leaving her very busy assignment as my executive officer (lost of 12-hour+ days!) she went on to become a military judge.

Allow me to explain a bit more: Prior to assuming those duties Kate was obliged to attend a several-week military judges’ course at the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General’s School. Despite being out of the day-to-day practice of military justice for well more than a year, she finished first in the class that included judges-to-be from across the services. Believe me, that is no small accomplishment (yes, I went to judges school’ many years previous, but let me just say I wasn’t #1 in my class!)

Unsurprisingly, after serving as a military judge and in other assignments including as a staff judge advocate, Kate went on to become the Air Force’s Chief Prosecutor and Chief Government Appellate Counsel.

After she retired, she became a Special Master of the United States Court of Federal Claims. She is also the mother of two wonderful children, and the wife of Col (ret.) Adam Oler, who was my executive officer after Kate.

Kate will be a terrific judge, and we hope to see her on the Careers in National Security Law panel on Thursday, 27 Feb 2025, immediately prior to the LENS Conference.

Former students visit!

A real treat this summer was the visits of former students!

Sydney Engle, class of 2023, recently returned to Durham for a weekend visit.  Joy and I met Sydney and her friend Clay for lunch at Ninth Street Bakery. While at Duke, Sydney took my readings seminar on national security (and she says she “encourages other students to do the same”!). She is currently finishing a clerkship with Judge Don R. Willett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She will then clerk for Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton of the Sixth Circuit, after which she plans to return to DC.

Joy and I also had lunch with Andrew Gabel, also of the class of ’23, and his friend Alexandra.  He is sharpening his interest in national security law at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (DC office), where he advises on matters that include Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) compliance, US outbound investment regulation, export controls, sanctions, and cyber law.

So great to see these young lawyers progressing their careers!!!

National Security Law Society (NSLS) Executive Board

The young lawyers-to-be of the NSLS Executive Board doing internships in DC got together for a meal.  Look to hear more about NSLS activities this fall!

Additions to the summer reading list!

A couple of books I’d recommend adding to your summer reading list:

In the Shadows: True Stories of High-Stakes Negotiations to Free Americans Capture Aboard. by Mickey Bergman and Ellis Hanican.  Lots to learn from this book about the challenges of negotiating for the release of hostages.  Bergman, who learned the craft from the late Bill Richardson whose many success are legendary, argues that operating on the “fringes” of diplomacy and representing only the interests of hostage or their family can often achieve results that elude the U.S. government.  Reads like a thriller.

The Light of Battle: Eisenhower, D-Day, and the Birth of the American Superpower,  by Michel Paradis.  A brilliantly written portrait of Eisenhower that deftly examines the many challenges he faced in the run up to D-Day.  Lots of I-didn’t-know-that information, e.g., Eisenhower was nearly court-martialed for fraud as a young officer.  The book explains how he dealt with inter-service friction, racial issues, civilian casualty concerns and, most of all, melding the allies into force that successfully invaded France to fight the Germans (an invasion that was stunningly complex).  Paradis convincingly makes the case about Eisenhower and D-Day being the “birth of the American Superpower.”

The Unit: My Life Fighting Terrorists as One of America’s Most Secret Military Operatives, by Adam Gama with Kelly Kennedy.  A fascinating true story about an immigrant from Egypt who overcame many barriers to become, as the title indicates, “one of America’s most secret operatives.”  A quick read.

Why War? by Richard Overy. I’m not finished with this one, but I’m finding it a fascinating examination of the various theories that seek to explain why the phenomena of war seems endemic to the human condition.  The author is a noted scholar of World War II and brings an academic’s perspective to the topic.  Still, it’s accessible to all, but takes some determination.

Former LENS conference speaker in Gaza

I received a short note from retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dave Deptula, about his visit to Gaza (in his personal capacity).  He is currently the Dean of Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, and has a keen interest in the Hamas-Israel conflict (see e.g., here), and is a former LENS Conference speaker.  Here’s what he shared:

Charlie, I am in Israel for a week of meetings with senior defense and government officials. I thought that you may find of interest that yesterday I drove from the Kerem Shalom crossing at the intersection of Israel, Egypt, and Gaza to the Mediterranean Sea through the city of Rafah and back—the first U.S. general officer (retired or active) to go into Gaza during this war. I was escorted by the deputy division commander responsible for operations in that area. The IDF is doing amazing work in an extraordinarily difficult adversary environment. The integration of effects from all domains and means to achieve their objectives is exemplary and very impressive.

Lt Gen Deptula came away with a rather different perspective than what you might see in media reports.  Yiou should read his essay in Forbes found here.

Remember what we like to say on Lawfire^®: gather the facts, examine the law, evaluate the arguments – and then decide for yourself!