Marik A. String is a Senior Fellow at the Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas School of Law. He was previously Acting Legal Adviser (General Counsel) of the U.S. Department of State. He also served as Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, supervising the US Government’s $200 billion annual defense trade portfolio. In the legislative branch, he was Deputy Chief Counsel and Senior Professional Staff Member for European Affairs on the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He was in private legal practice for nearly a decade at WilmerHale LLP in Washington, D.C., advising clients on matters at the intersection of national security, international trade, and cross-border investment. He has been a scholar affiliated with The Atlantic Council and Aspen Institute Berlin. He is an officer in the US Navy Reserve. He was educated at Georgetown University (J.D., Global Law Scholar), where he was an editor of The Georgetown Law Journal; the University of Vienna (M.A., Fulbright Scholar); and the University of Notre Dame (B.A.). He speaks fluent German.