Volume 12 Issue 1 (2021)

Letter from the Editor

Dear Readers,

The National Security Law Brief is proud to public Issue No. 1 of Volume XII. Our Small staff is entirely student-run and all-volunteer, so the incredible amount of effort and dedication that each of these volumes takes cannot be overstated. That was especially true in the fall of 2021, where an uncertain return to campus amidst the still-raging Covid-19 pandemic has increased the difficulty of maintaining a Brief outside of normal law school obligations by orders of magnitude. The most senior members of our staff have gotten as much of their legal education in a remote environment as they have on campus, and all of us have attended school with the backdrop of a raging civil rights movement, an attempted insurrection by violent right-wing extremists, and increasingly erratic and extreme weather events caused by an ever-more-urgent man-made climate disaster. To even keep a volunteer publication running in such an environment is an incredible accomplishment, and to put out a quality publication is a colossal achievement. I am extremely proud of our staff and deeply grateful to each of our members for their efforts so far this year.

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As part of our national reckoning over the last two years, increased scrutiny and attention have been placed on structural problems in our society. This issue solidifies the NSLB's commitment to that dialogue, as we aimed to include authors with a unique perspective writing about topics that take a more holistic look at the National Security space. Our first article, by McKinney Voss Wheeler, looks at the United States' use of private military contractors and asks important constitutional questions in the context of the War Powers Resolution. Our second, by Gabrielle Leeman, further adds to the rih discussion around domestic terrorism and far-right extremism in the aftermath of 2017's Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Both articles take a novel approach to deeply prescient problems and ask important questions about the tools at our disposal as legal practitioners.

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Our Brief is dedicated to upholding a proud tradition of providing students and professionals alike with the opportunity to contribute to the rapidly evolving discourse within National Security Law. We are proud of this offering and hope that you will find it to be an enlightening, challenging, and informative reading experience. I thank you for choosing to be part of our community and wish you the best in these increasingly uncertain times. 

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Respectfully,

Ryan Nelson

Editor-in-Chief