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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Mr. Kevin C. Peterson

1971-1993, Active Duty USAF Promoted to Colonel.
1995-Present, Deputy Chief, International and operations Law Division, Headquarters USAF
Dr. Erickson was born in Alexandria, Virginia. He received his BA (international relations and speech) with honors and his MA (government) from The Florida State University. In 1970, he graduated from The University of Michigan School of Law, JD cum laude, and in 1971 from The University of Virginia, PhD (foreign affairs), where he was a Thomas Jefferson Foundation Fellow. In 1994, he received an LLM (international law) with distinction from The Georgetown University Law Center. While at Georgetown he was a Ford Foundation Fellow and wrote for publication The Making of Executive Agreements by the United States Department of Defense: An Agenda For Progress.
Beginning in 1995, Dr. Erickson accepted appointment as Senior Attorney-Advisor (International) and Deputy Chief, International and Operations Law Division, Headquarters United States Air Force. Previously, he served in various legal and policy positions within the Department of Defense. He retired from the Air Force in 1993, having attained the rank of colonel. Among his active duty achievements were serving as a United States Expert to the 1972 Geneva Conference on the Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflict; Editor-in-Chief, The Air Force Law Review; faculty member (international law), the Air Force law school; Chief, International Law Division, Headquarters United States Air Forces in Europe; senior Defense Department attorney in Greece and legal advisor to the Joint U.S. Military Aid Group (Greece); Deputy Legal Advisor, Headquarters United States European Command; and policy-advisor and negotiator in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. He drafted the first Air Force published monograph on International Law — The Conduct of Armed Conflict and Air Operations.
Dr. Erickson negotiations include the 1990 Defense Cooperation Agreement with Greece, renegotiation of the German Supplementary Agreement to the NATO Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), and the One-Plus-Three talks on German Reunification. Additionally, he served as Team Chief, SOFA Team, 1990-91 US-Philippine Base Rights Talks, and lead negotiator for defense agreements with Brunei and Singapore. He began a Pacific Islands initiative in the early 1990s to lay the policy and legal foundation to support humanitarian relief efforts in the region.
He has completed numerous military post graduate education programs to include Air Command and Staff College, Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Naval War College (international law), and Air War College. While attending the Air War College, he was a Research Fellow at the Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research and Education (CADRE). His monograph prepared while at the Center, Legitimate Use of Military Force Against State-Sponsored International Terrorism, won the 1987 Air Force Historical Foundation Award and was published by the Air University Press in 1989.
His military awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Meritorious Service Medal (with three oak leaf clusters), and National Defense Service Medal (with one oak leaf cluster). He has written extensively, both books and articles, to include International Law and Revolutionary State published by Oceana in 1971. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Sigma Alpha and Tau Kappa Alpha.
Dr. Erickson is a life member of die Air Force Association, the Alumni Association of the Air War College, the American Legion (Post 176), die American Society of International Law, and Alumni Associations of The Florida State University and The University of Virginia. He is also a member of the American Branch of the International Law Association of Brussels, the Air Force Retired Judge Advocates Association, the Federal Bar Association and the Southern Political Science Association. As an attorney he is a member of the bars of die State of Michigan, the Supreme Court of the United States and the bars of several other federal courts to include die United States Court of Appeals for die Armed Forces.
He is also an adjunct faculty member (international law) at George Mason University. He has served as faculty advisor to the National Youth Leadership Forum. He is married to the former Joan Kadiryn Harmony of New London, Ohio, and they have a daughter, Karen. They live in Burke, Virginia, where Dr. Erickson served as Director (Vice President), Burke Station Square Civic Association from 1995-1999, and serves as a Fairfax County election official.