Erik Mudrinich

Erik Mudrinich is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Nebraska College of Law, where he serves as Interim Director of the Space, Cyber, and National Security Law (SCNSL) Program. He teaches National Security Law, International Cyber Security, and National Security Space Law. He is an expert in national security law, cyber law, and space law, with more than two decades of practice at the most senior levels of federal national security work.

A retired United States Air Force Judge Advocate with 24 years of service, Professor Mudrinich brings rare cross-domain experience to the classroom. He served as a senior operations law attorney at three combatant commands—U.S. Cyber Command, U.S. Strategic Command, and U.S. Space Command—advising commanders, staff, and components on the most consequential legal questions in space, cyber, intelligence, and operational law.

Most recently, he served as Deputy Staff Judge Advocate (Deputy General Counsel) at U.S. Space Command, where he supervised a team of attorneys and counseled the Commander on emerging questions in space and cyber law, intelligence law, international and operational law, privacy, surveillance, and classified special access programs. He engaged routinely with senior counsel at the Department of Defense, Chairman’s Legal, the White House, the National Reconnaissance Office, the Department of State, and the Central Intelligence Agency. He drafted and negotiated international agreements with foreign governments, allied partners, and international satellite consortiums, and helped shape the developing tenets of responsible behavior in space.

Earlier, Professor Mudrinich was Chief of Space Law at U.S. Strategic Command (2016–2019), Chief of Cyber Operations Law at U.S. Cyber Command (2014–2016), and Chief of Space and Operations Law at the Joint Functional Component Command–Space at Vandenberg (2011–2014). Across these assignments, he led legal support for full-spectrum cyber operations, space situational awareness, satellite data-sharing arrangements, manned space flight, and contingency operations.

Beyond the law school, he is the founder of Swede Space Solutions, a consultancy serving the space and national security sectors.

Professor Mudrinich earned his LL.M. in Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law from the University of Nebraska, his J.D. from Mitchell Hamline School of Law, and his B.A. in Political Science, cum laude, from St. Olaf College. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and the Wisconsin Bar.

• National Security Law Law 719 (3 cr hr)
  Examines international and U.S. law relevant to the handling of national security matters. Studies the allocation of power under the Constitution between Congress and the President with respect to war powers and assess the role of the courts as a check on the political branches in this area, particularly as it relates to ongoing efforts to fight terrorism. Analyzes the military detention of suspected terrorists and their trial by military commissions. Focuses on international law governing the use of force, conflict management and collective security arrangements. Special attention will be given to the U.N. Charter, the doctrine of self-defense, arguments setting forth justifications for the unilateral use of force, intervention in internal conflicts, and the institutional framework for collective efforts to maintain international peace and security, including peacekeeping operations and peace enforcement actions.
• International Cyber Security  Law 756 (3 cr hr)
  Examines international legal issues related to emerging conflicts in cyberspace and explores threats to international cyber security posed by a wide range of hostile cyber acts, from damaging cyber mischief and crime to cyber warfare. The primary focus is on the legal frameworks that may apply to hostile acts in cyber space, including the domestic criminal laws of states, international law, and particularly the law of armed conflict. Compares various forms of cybercrime with state-sponsored efforts to disrupt, deny, degrade or destroy information in computer networks and systems, explores private and governmental roles in cyberspace, and assesses the appropriate legal responses to increasingly diverse state-sponsored military and intelligence operations in cyberspace, including those related to data exploitation, espionage and sabotage.
• National Security Space Law Law 747 (3 cr hr)
  This course addresses the national security aspects of space law and covers the application of international law to military activities during peacetime, during times of crisis and tension, and during armed conflict. It examines legal issues related to new and emerging military space technologies; key space arms control issues; U.S. national security space strategy; the role of space in nuclear deterrence; and efforts to prevent an arms race in outer space.