UNL College of Law renames its Space, Cyber and Telecommunications Law Program

The Space, Cyber and Telecommunications Law Program at the Nebraska College of Law is changing its name to the Nebraska Space, Cyber and National Security Law Program, the university said Wednesday.

Jack Beard, a retired U.S. Army Judge Advocate General and professor of law who directs the program, said the name change clarifies the mission and offerings for students.

The college determined “Cyber” encompassed a wide range of technologies, including telecommunications, intellectual property, First Amendment speech, and privacy law — “anything involving information,” according to Beard.

And “National Security” was added to reflect Nebraska Law’s close relationships with the U.S. Department of Defense, different military commands, and other government agencies and private businesses.

“The decision was made some time ago that we have been fulfilling a key training for military officers,” Beard said. “It’s been in the works for quite a while.”

Launched in 2008 as the Space and Telecommunications Law degree with grant support from NASA, the program changed its name for the first time in 2010 to add “cyber” to signal an expansion in Nebraska Law’s offerings.

The program is currently involved in cutting-edge research related to space law, and UNL is one of our founding universities working on the “Woomera Manual on the International Law of Military Space Activities and Operations” set to be published later this year.

The areas of space law, cyber law, the law of armed conflict, intelligence law, and others are available for study by traditional juris doctor students — about 20-30 are enrolled each year — at Nebraska Law.

Roughly a half dozen students pursuing a Master of Law are also enrolled in those courses, either on campus or in a synchronous online program — sometimes from military deployments overseas.

To date, the Nebraska Space, Cyber and National Security Law Program has produced more than 50 U.S. Judge Advocate General’s Corps — better known as JAG officers — for the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marine Corps.

Other graduates, who have benefited from the program’s relationship with the U.S. Department of Defense, have gone on to work as civilians in the CIA, National Security Agency, Coast Guard, the commercial sector, and other areas. 

Beard, founding director Matthew Schaefer, and Professor Frans von der Dunk, teach the program’s core courses, while a wider group of faculty within the College of Law, including Executive Director Elsbeth Magilton, also intersect with its mission.

“Nowhere else in the world does the possibility exist at this level to study those domains of law that are of critical importance to humankind’s future,” von der Dunk said.