William & Mary Law School Co-Sponsors ABA National Security Law Conference

by David F. Morrill | November 21, 2025

William & Mary Law School was pleased to cosponsor the 35th Annual ABA (American Bar Association) Annual Review of the Field of National Security Law Conference.

The event was held on November 13-14, 2025, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.

The theme of the conference, “Technology, National Security and the Law: Keeping Pace with Innovation,” addressed the challenges and legal issues posed by accelerating development of advanced technologies. Professor Hu (left) moderated a panel on "The AI Arms Race and National Security Law."

Washington Post columnist David Ignatius gave the keynote address on “Technology, Intelligence and a World in Turmoil” and Sandra Joyce, vice president, Google Threat Intelligence Group, Google Cloud, held a fireside chat on “The Future of Cybersecurity.”

Margaret Hu, Davison M. Douglas Professor of Law and Director of the Digital Democracy Lab, was appointed by the ABA President to serve on the Advisory Committee of the ABA Standing Committee for Law and National Security (SCOLANS), which hosted the annual gathering.

As part of her service to SCOLANS, Hu was invited to moderate the panel on Artificial Intelligence (AI): “The AI Arms Race and National Security Law” on Friday, November 14.

On the panel were Aaron Cooper, Partner and Founding Co-Chair of the Critical & Emerging Technologies Practice at Jenner & Block LLP and former Deputy Legal Advisor for the White House National Security Council; Kat Duffy, Senior Fellow for Digital and Cyberspace Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Futures Council on Geopolitics; Josh Hodges, Partner at Ridgeline Advocacy Group and former National Security Advisor to Speaker Mike Johnson; and Will Hudson, Associate General Counsel at Anthropic and former Director for International Cyber Policy at the National Security Council.

Hu was accompanied by six William & Mary Law School students: Steven Cauthron ’26, Isabella Gallo ’27, Isabelle Sistino ’28, Ishani Shetty ’28, Cole Simmons ’27, and Owen Tremblay ’26.