GW Law's National Security, Cybersecurity, and Foreign Relations Law Program Newsletter

I hope you are enjoying the Spring semester. It was an exciting Fall for the National Security, Cybersecurity, and Foreign Relations Law Program. Thanks to the assistance of our faculty leadership and our student groups, we hosted interesting events as described in the articles below, including our Veterans Day event at which Lieutenant General (LTG) (Ret.) Joseph B. Berger III, the 42nd Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army spoke about Service: A Lifetime Calling. We are thrilled to welcome General (Ret.) Berger to our list of GW Law adjunct faculty members. He will be teaching Nation Building and the Rule of Law in the Fall 26 semester. We are equally thrilled to welcome LTG (Ret.) Stuart Risch, the 41st Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army, to our adjunct faculty members. He is currently teaching the Law of War. In October we hosted a panel on “The Military and the Rule of Law.” The panel, moderated by Professor of Practice Jonathan Cedarbaum, featured the 40th Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army LTG (Ret.) Charles Pede (also a member of the GW Law adjunct faculty), former Deputy General Counsel and Acting General Counsel of the Department of Defense Robert Taylor, and Lyle T. Alverson Professor of Law Laura Dickinson. Please note our upcoming events listed at the end of the newsletter below. We hope you will join us on March 25, for our Women’s History Month event–Women Leading the Way in Cybersecurity Law–a fireside chat between Danielle Hernandez JD ‘19, Associate Corporate Counsel, Amazon Web Services and Jane Horvath, Partner, Gibson Dunn, formerly Apple’s Chief Privacy Officer, Google’s Global Privacy Counsel, and DOJ’s first Chief Privacy Counsel and Civil Liberties Officer. Also, please join us on April 1 for the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals oral argument hearing. Thank you for your continued support of the National Security, Cybersecurity, and Foreign Relations Law Program. Please stay safe and well.

Lisa M. Schenck

Associate Dean for National Security, Cybersecurity, and Foreign Relations Law; Distinguished Professorial Lecturer in Law

On November 6, 2025, the GW Law National Security, Cybersecurity, & Foreign Relations Law Program, with the Veteran Law Students Association (VLSA), hosted Lieutenant General (LTG) (Ret.) Joseph B. Berger III, the 42nd Judge Advocate General of the United States Army, to commemorate Veterans Day.

This year’s event, entitled "Service: A Lifetime Calling," offered GW Law’s students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to observe Veterans Day and hear insights from LTG Berger about his career in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, as Chief Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and currently as the Executive Director of the American Inns of Court Foundation. Attendees included students, faculty, staff, and friends of GW Law, many of whom were veterans and active-duty military.

On September 4, GW Law’s National Security, Cybersecurity, and Foreign Relations Law Program, in cooperation with the Veteran Law Students Association (VLSA), held its annual Veterans Welcome Back Reception. The event featured GW Law’s Dean Dayna Bowen Matthew and Lieutenant General (Ret.) Stuart W. Risch, who served as the 41st Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army.

GW Law’s National Security, Cybersecurity, and Foreign Relations Law Program and the Military Law Society (MLS) co-hosted the annual Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG) recruiter panel on September 10. This year’s panel included accomplished JAGs from each military branch, including Army Captain Jordan Green, JD ‘18, Navy Lieutenant William Wahl, Marine Corps Captain Chelsea Lucas, Air Force Captain Sarah Ann Gaughan, Air Force Lieutenant Samantha Longley, and Coast Guard Lieutenant Janika Jordan.

On September 24, GW Law’s National Security, Cybersecurity, and Foreign Relations Law Program and the National Security Law Association hosted a “National Security Careers in Law Firms” panel to a full audience in the Burns Moot Courtroom. The panel, moderated by Professor of Practice Jonathan Cedarbaum, featured partners from four law firms whose practices span different aspects of national security law, each with impressive and varied career paths. The panelists described how they entered the field and outlined the scope of their current work. They highlighted the tremendous growth of national security practice areas in recent years, particularly export controls, sanctions compliance, and matters relating to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

On October 29, GW Law’s National Security, Cybersecurity, and Foreign Relations Law Program and the National Security Law Association hosted a panel on “The Military and the Rule of Law.” The panel, moderated by Professor of Practice Jonathan Cedarbaum, featured former Judge Advocate General of the Army LTG (Ret.) Charles Pede, former Deputy General Counsel and Acting General Counsel of the Department of Defense Robert Taylor, and Lyle T. Alverson Professor of Law Laura Dickinson.

Join us in congratulating our alumni Amir Hamdoun (JD ‘17), Philip Lakin (JD ‘17), Kaylyn Sands-Richey (JD ‘17), and Alex Brink (JD ‘16) on completing the Army JAG Graduate Course; and Grady Stevens (JD ‘24) and Steve Hollins (JD ‘25) on completing the Judge Advocate Officer Basic Course.

Grady Stevens (JD ‘24, left) and Steve Hollins (JD ‘25, right)

From left to right: Amir Hamdoun (JD ‘17), Philip Lakin (JD ‘17), Kaylyn Sands-Richey (JD ‘17)

Associate Dean for National Security, Cybersecurity, and Foreign Relations Law Lisa Schenck served as a final round judge for the United States Army’s 2025 Brigadier General Wayne E. Alley Military Law Moot Court Competition.
Lyle T. Alverson Professor of Law and Co-Faculty Director Laura Dickinson discussed a paper on the regulation of big data in armed conflict at a conference jointly hosted by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and Brigham Young University Law School, gave a talk on legal issues related to the domestic deployment of the military at a conference at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, and served as a discussant at a workshop at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law on Precision Lethality and Civilian Harm Mitigation.
In addition, Professor Dickinson participated in a podcast on the Insurrection Act hosted by the American Constitution Center, and was quoted by the Wall Street Journal (discussing the Insurrection Act), the Financial Times (discussing the US boat strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific), Time Magazine, (same), the Washington Post, and numerous other media outlets.
Charles Kennedy Poe Research Professor and Co-Faculty Director Edward Swaine published an article called "Prohibiting Threats of Aggression" in the Fall 2025 issue of the Virginia Journal of International Law. He also participated in the Midyear Meeting of the American Society of International Law, and in December presented a paper at a roundtable at Temple Law School on The National Security Constitution in the 21st Century. Professor Swaine also recently published an article titled "Can the U.S. Government Be Sued for Wrongful Death in a Caribbean Boat Strike?" on Just Security.
Lobingier Professor of Comparative Law and Jurisprudence William Dodge published an essay, Why Canada’s Terrorism Exception Does Not Violate International Law, in the Canadian Yearbook of International Law. He also wrote an Introductory Note to Doe v. Cisco Systems Inc. for International Legal Materials. Professor Dodge gave the keynote address at a webinar hosted by the Chinese Journal of Transnational Law, discussing U.S. Covid Lawsuits Against China. He also wrote two amicus briefs for the U.S. Courts of Appeals. In Mia v. Kimberly Clark Corp., he argued to the D.C. Circuit that that the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act’s civil cause of action applies extraterritorially to the same extent as the offenses on which a claim is based. In Kangol LLC v. Hangzhou Chuanyue Export & Import Co., he argued to the Seventh Circuit that the Hague Service Convention does not permit service by email.
Manatt/Ahn Professor of International Law Sean D. Murphy was elected in August 2025 to full member of L’Institut de Droit International. Also in August, an arbitral court that he chairs issued an important decision in a dispute brought by Pakistan against India concerning the sharing of water resources of the Western Rivers of the Indus River system. Further, Professor Murphy was invited by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to serve as an expert for the upcoming U.N. negotiations on a convention for prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity. In that regard, he spoke on crimes against humanity in September at a meeting of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Legal Advisers on Public International Law (CAHDI) in Strasbourg, France; in October at an event hosted by the Permanent Missions of Australia, Romania, and Singapore to the United Nations in New York; and in November on a panel at the International Bar Association Conference in Toronto, Canada.
In October, Professor Murphy argued before an international arbitral tribunal on behalf of Armenia in a case brought by Azerbaijan under the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats. Closer to home, he moderated the Law School’s Brand-Manatt Lecture in November, entitled “U.S. Launch of the Updated Commentary on the Fourth Geneva Convention: Fireside Chat with Dr. Jean-Marie Henckaerts” of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Burchfield Professor of First Amendment and Free Speech Law Mary-Rose Papandrea was recently interviewed for an upcoming article with USA Today about the government's attacks on national security journalists.
Professor of Practice for National Security, Cybersecurity, and Foreign Relations Law Jonathan Cedarbaum recently moderated a podcast episode on Lawfare on “Grading the Trump Administration's Cybersecurity Efforts”.
Visiting Associate Professor and National Security, Cybersecurity, and Foreign Relations Law Fellow Katie Kedian moderated the opening panel for the American Bar Association’s 35th Annual Review of National Security Law. The panel, entitled “Economic Statecraft: Industrial Policy as Strategic Weapon,” examined current uses of IEEPA, ECRA, and CFIUS, how those authorities are invoked in the contest over rare earths and other critical minerals, and how these issues fit within the overall U.S.-China-Russia rivalry.
Professor Kedian also launched Nat Sec Coffee Chat, a recurring event designed to build community among GW Law students interested in national security, hosting three sessions during the fall semester.
On November 6, at the invitation of the French Embassy in Washington, Distinguished Professorial Lecturer in National Security Law Dan E. Stigall took part in a panel discussion during a conference for “French Lawyers and Friends in the United States.” The event brought together international legal practitioners from across France and the United States. Professor Stigall provided remarks on comparative law and some key differences between civil law and common law jurisdictions.
Professor Stigall also authored a two-part series for West Point’s Articles of War, addressing the impact of French legal thought on the formation of the law of war with a specific focus on the Rousseau-Portalis Doctrine. Read Part I and Part II on the Articles of War website. Professor Stigall researches and writes on issues related to comparative law and the law of armed conflict.

Tahmineh Dehbozorgi, JD '24 with a JD concentration in National Security & Cybersecurity Law, recently co-authored an article on ICE biometric data collection for MS NOW (MSNBC).
Ankit Khosla, GW Law National Security and Cybersecurity Program LLM student (and JD alum ’24), recently co-authored a piece for Tech Policy Press criticizing the Office of Science and Technology Policy’s (OSTP) request for public input on regulations that might hinder AI adoption.