Shortburst: early fall 2024 edition – lots of news!
Shortbursts is an occasional feature of Lawfire®designed to provide brief news pieces or updates on a variety of matters.
More speakers confirming for the LENS 2025 Conference!
Because issues associated with outer space are becoming so prominent, I’m especially glad that Professor Chris Borgen from St. John’s Law has agreed to return to the LENS conference to make a presentation on “Current Legal Issues in Space Activities and National Security.”
Chris is the perfect person to speak on this topic. He not only is the Co-Director of the Center for International and Comparative Law at St John’s, he is also a past Co-Chair of the American Society of International Law’s Space Law Interest Group. 
Moreover, Chris was a “core expert” for the just-published ‘The Woomera Manual of the International Law of Military Space Activities.
Popular LENS conference participant Erin Wirtannen of the Central Intelligence Agency Office of General Counsel will be joining us again for the Careers in National Security Law ‘early arrival event’ as well as for the conference itself. Erin is a wonderful person and a fascinating speaker with interesting things to say!
I’m also extremely pleased to tell you that Lawfire® contributor Prof Mark Nevitt of Emory University School of Law will make a presentation on the “Environment and National Security.” In my book, Mark is the top expert on the interplay between environmental law and national security.
Prof Curt Bradley has agreed to speak about his new book, Historical Gloss and Foreign Affairs: Constitutional Authority in Practice (Harvard University Press, 2024).
Curt’s expertise in this area is, in a word, “legendary.” A former Duke Law faculty member, he also previously served as Counselor on International Law in the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser. You’ll not want to miss this discussion (and there is much to interest the national security law practitioner!).
Duke Law grad selected as Canadian Military Judge
As I’ve said before, Canadian Judge Advocate (JAG) Steve Strickey–who obtained his LLM at Duke Law in 2012–is one of the finest and most talented students I’ve been privileged to teach.
Super-smart, phenomenally hard-working, and extremely personable, Steve is impressive in so many ways. He made history as the first Vice JAG in the history of the Canadian Armed Forces, and now he has been selected for yet another honor. Here’s the announcement:
This is an enormous and extraordinarily well-deserved accomplishment! I could not be happier for him–and for the Canadian people! Congrats!!!!!!
National Security Law Society announces events:
- September 12: Duke’s National Security Law Society will hold its General Body Meeting at 12:30 p.m. in Room 4042. Lunch will be provided. All Duke Law students are invited to attend. For more information, please contact Katherine French at katherine.k.french@duke.edu or Jimmy Scoville at jimmy.scoville@duke.edu.
- October 9: The National Security Law Society will host a panel on “Careers in the Intelligence Community” at 12:30 p.m., Room 3037.
- October 23: The national Security Law Scoiety will host a panel “Revolving Door: From Government to Big Law” at 12:30 p.m., Room 4047
General Nakasone visits Duke
Photo by Josh Lin,| The Chronicle
Retired Army general Paul Nakasone visited Duke on August and participated in a ‘fireside chat’-style conversation expertly conducted by Duke professor Peter Feaver as part of the American Grand Strategy (AGS) program.
As many of you you probably know, at the time of his retirement, General Nakasone was (simultaneously!) the commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, director of the National Security Agency and chief of the Central Security Service. His presentation, entitled “Evolving Technologies and the Threats to National Security,” is well-summarized in a Duke Chronicle article by Michael Austin found here.
Allow me to add a few additional observations based on some questions I and others were able to pose at the presentation as well as at the subsequent dinner. Asked about the challenges in leading a military organization that has a significant number of civilians, he highlighted the need for emotional intelligence. What book would recommend? Chris Miller’s Chip War: The Quest to Dominate the World’s Most Critical Technology. The leading legal challenge in the cyber world? He suggests data regulation.
If you’re thinking it would be great to explore these and other topics more deeply, I agree. Though he isn’t available for the LENS conference, we’re looking for an opportunity for him to return for Duke and to do a post for Lawfire®, so stay tuned!
LENS Essay featured in NATO’s Legal Vigilance Bulletin
Ms. Cash
Madison Cash’s LENS Essay Series article, Uploading Culture: Navigating the International Humanitarian Legal Framework Governing Cultural Property, is featured in the current issue of the Legal Vigilance Bulletin published by NATO’s Allied Command Operations (ACO) Office of Legal Affairs. (More about her article can be found here.) I’m not surprised at the interest in her cutting-edge legal analysis of such a timely topic.
Maddie is a member of the Class of 2024 and the former co-president of the National Security Law Society. She’ll be at Hogan Lovells before clerking for Judge David Novak in the Eastern District of Virginia.
It’s great to see the LENS Essay Series getting this kind of international notice. Congrats Maddie!!!
