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The National Security Management (NSM) course recently brought together 40 high-ranking officers, noncommissioned officers and civilian officials from the U.S. defense establishment for an intensive week-long examination of the complex landscape of contemporary national security.

The on-campus phase builds on seven weeks of online sessions with civilian and military experts, featuring Maxwell’s faculty alongside distinguished guest speakers, with the recent agenda including a talk with former Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks on the topic of “Leading through Uncertainty.”

“Dr. Hicks led the day-to-day operations of the Defense Department through the most consequential period in global security since the end of the Cold War,” says Maxwell Dean David M. Van Slyke. “Having her speak with our participants—leaders who are themselves navigating that landscape—and discussing valuable lessons learned is exactly what this program is designed to do.”

The NSM course, offered each spring and fall, is one part of a broader National Security Studies portfolio that Maxwell has built in partnership with the Department of Defense, and serves as both an anchor of the Executive Education Department and a cornerstone of the University’s deep, enduring commitment to serving the men and women who serve the nation.

Law as a National Security Tool

In the session with James E. Baker—a professor by courtesy appointment of public administration and international affairs at Maxwell, a former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and a former legal adviser to the National Security Council—participants explored the fundamentals and frontiers of national security law, from constitutional theory to the strategic implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“What makes these challenges today so complex?” Baker asked participants. Three things, he said, “First, these challenges come with a new age of technology.” He cited artificial intelligence, synthetic biology and our technological dependence on near-Earth space for communications and navigation.

The second complicating factor, Baker argued, is a crisis in the legitimacy of international legal norms, including the fundamental respect for international borders.

“Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is a statement that no law matters,” Baker said. “It is the right of the powerful to take from the weak, and that has fundamentally eradicated our understanding of what international law has been.”

On the domestic side, Baker pointed to deepening debates over the boundaries of executive power—what legal scholars call unitary executive theory—as another factor undermining law as a stabilizing force.

Baker’s third reason is deep division within the United States.

“It’s hard to do things in the international security sphere if you only bring along half the country,” Baker said. “The United States is most powerful when it speaks with one voice, and it speaks with all three branches.”

Yet Baker’s message was ultimately one of institutional hope. Despite the turbulence surrounding law and governance, he argued that the U.S. military stands apart as a model of professional restraint and accountability.

“The United States military is still the finest military in the world,” he said, describing its superpower as twofold: its adherence to the law, and its nonpartisan, apolitical character. Baker, who began his long career as an infantry officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, added, “That is different than most militaries. And that stands out.”

He noted that the military remains the only American public institution in which more than half the country—62 percent, according to a recent Gallup poll—expresses high confidence. “Law is not an impediment,” Baker concluded. “It is a feature and virtue of the U.S. national security system, if you use it wisely and well.”

A Program Built to Serve

Baker’s session was one of many that challenged participants to think beyond their immediate operational environments through lectures, discussions and case studies tailored to senior executives who grapple with the challenges of national security decision making. Attendees also participate in simulations that put all the skills they discuss and learn to the test.

The has deep roots and a long history, starting in 1996 and growing steadily in prestige and scope. Upon completing the program, participants receive a national security management certificate—and often also earn professional development credits in their organizations that can help with merit-based promotion.

Maxwell has also expanded its national security offerings with The Discipline and Practice of Strategy, a course for midcareer professionals developed in collaboration with the U.S. Army—reflecting the University’s identity as one of the most veteran-friendly research universities in the country.

“There are a lot of smart lawyers in the world,” Baker told participants. “But there are a lot fewer smart lawyers in the world who are prepared to make decisions on national security timelines and be held accountable for them. You don’t get to go back and research it and study it. You have to put it on the table right there.”

Those are stakes members of the national security establishment can understand, and the very situations Maxwell’s National Security Management course has been preparing them to grapple with for 30 years.