Volume 14 Issue 2 (2024)

Letter from the Editor

Dear Reader,

This was a year brimming with change for the editors and staff here at the National Security Law Brief, most of it occurring behind the scenes. We came into this issue with one major goal in mind—to take our publication fully digital. With the understanding that most of us now do the bulk of our reading on the computer or scrolling on our phones, we want to meet our readers where they are. This format also gives us a huge amount of flexibility when working with our contributing authors. Not only can we post about new publications with links for readers to easily navigate, but by freeing the Brief of the timelines inherent in a hard copy print edition, we can put an article into the editing cycle without delay and publish it as soon as the cycle is complete—no more waiting on delivery from the printers.

To support this goal, we had to turn our attention to one vital piece of Brief infrastructure. Our contributing authors and student bloggers deserve a platform that is both beautiful and functional to host their ideas. Early on, we quietly put production on pause, recruited some fantastic in-house talent to work on the redesign, and a few months later launched the revamped website with our first article of this volume and a fresh student blog post. I could not be prouder of the entire team and of the results. I must give credit for the website’s new look to Benjamin Bui, who served as the website editor for this volume. Through this new platform and by continuing to publish the Brief digitally on HeinOnline, we seek to reach a wider national security law community.

To us, a critical component of speaking to a broad community is publishing a wide scope of ideas. To this end, we remain fully committed to presenting a variety of viewpoints and positions. We maintain no agenda apart from serving as a place for novel ideas grounded in legal analysis to thrive—a place for academic conversation in an environment of respect.

For this volume, which was truncated due to the production pause during the website redesign, we chose to go without a theme. Or perhaps the theme was simply a continuation of the concept of moving forward unconstrained. We are thrilled with the results and proudly present:

• Jeff Meehan’s poignant analysis of how the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force has been misapplied, largely through interpretations of the “associated forces” clause.

• Dr. Le Thi Anh Nguyet’s brilliant take, from her viewpoint as a longtime international trade law practitioner in Vietnam, on the legal implications of the United States’ invocation of the national security exception in disputes regarding imports of Chinese aluminum and steel.

Finally, we are ecstatic to congratulate our graduating editors and staff. We are sad to say farewell but wish each of you all the best in your future endeavors.

Thank you for reading, and we will look forward to seeing you next volume. In the meantime, keep your eye on the website for exciting new blog posts coming soon.  

Sindi A. Connell

Editor-in-Chief