Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker, Dean Emerita of the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law, has made unparalleled contributions to the field of national security law in her impressive career and is among the foremost practitioners, scholars, and experts in national security law over four decades. Her contributions to the field are vast, including extensive service in government as General Counsel of NSA and CIA and principal deputy legal advisor at the Department of State. She was twice appointed to the Public Interest Declassification Board, and served on the DNI Senior Advisory Group. She also served as Executive Director and CEO of the State Bar of California. During her tenure at McGeorge, she was instrumental in creating the well-regarded Journal of National Security Law and Policy and was a leader in the successful effort to establish a National Security Law and Policy section within the Association of American Law Schools. She brought with her to each position a strong commitment to the Constitution and the protections that it affords. She has also been a member of the Board of Trustees of the MITRE Corporation, a member of the Executive Board of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, and a member of the advisory board of the Reiss Center on Law and Security at NYU School of Law, among many other affiliations. She serves as a consultant with the Defending Democratic Institutions Project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and is a compelling advocate for civic education in the U.S. education system as a national security imperative. Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker is a respected practitioner, a leader in developing the field of national security law, a dedicated promoter of the rule of law, and a role model and mentor to countless national security lawyers. Despite her many accomplishments, her commitment to the field continues unabated as do her contributions. Her judgement, temperament, wisdom, and passion continue to inspire others. It is a special honor for the Standing Committee on Law and National Security to award the Morris I. Leibman Award in Law and National Security to Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker in further acknowledgement of her life’s work. 

A founding architect of the academic discipline of National Security Law and lead author of the seminal casebooks in the field, Steve Dycus has defined and shaped the contours of what counts as National Security Law. His books are used in more than 100 law schools. He co-authored a seminal work, Soldiers on the Home Front: The Domestic Role of the American Military and is the co-founder and was co-editor in chief of the Journal of National Security Law and Policy. As the world became ever more dangerous and the need for lawyers educated in National Security Law became more exigent, Steve worked prodigiously to engage with other law professors and national security professionals to inquire about new developments, seek feedback on the legal issues he believed were of central importance, and spread the word about the emerging field of National Security Law in U.S. legal education. Through the 1990s and into the new century, he continues to make a significant contribution in assuring that National Security Law is a seminal part of the Law curriculum. After 9/11, the co-authors of the National Security Law textbook worked under Steve’s leadership to expand the efforts toward a new casebook in Counterterrorism Law, which also has been widely adopted in American law schools. The books’ dynamic content has required that Steve constantly revisit the tables of contents and provide annual supplements and even more frequent online updates for both casebooks. Steve also spearheaded and became the founding chair of the Association of American Law Schools’ (AALS) section on National Security Law. He served as a consultant to the US Department of Energy on the clean-up of nuclear weapons complexes and was a member of the National Academies committee on cyber warfare. He is also a member of the American Law Institute. His personal commitment and the impressive record of his professional accomplishments constitute an enduring legacy that will benefit and advance the field of law and national security for years to come. His career reflects the highest credit upon himself and upon the American legal profession and it is most  fitting to present the Morris I. Leibman Award in Law and National Security to Stephen Dycus.