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The United States of America has been committed to the right conduct of war and has paved the way for nations to establish clear rules during conflict. Lofty goals of [...]

No one would argue with the statement that military justice in the Army has changed from the last quarter of the eighteenth century, when General George Washington commanded a Continental [...]

On 20 October 2021, hostile forces launched five fixed-wing unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) at the Al Tanf Garrison (ATG), a U.S. base in southeastern Syria. (1) The weapons were on [...]

The existential threat to the world order is arguably higher than it has been at any point since the end of the Cold War. (1) Russia is conducting a drawn-out, [...]

I. Introduction On 6-7 February, the U.S. Military Academy's Center for the Rule of Law and the International Law Division of the Naval War College (1) co-sponsored a workshop on [...]

Counterinsurgency is not just thinking man's warfare--it is the graduate level of war. (1) I. Introduction In armed conflict and contingency operations, U.S. forces commonly displace private citizens from their [...]

Maritime forces will work with others to ensure an adequate level of security and awareness in the maritime domain. In doing so, transnational threats--terrorists and extremists; proliferators of weapons of [...]

The condemnation of perfidy is an ancient precept of the laws and customs of war derived from the principle of chivalry. It has remained a cardinal principal in modern times, [...]

Detention operations, while critical to successful counterinsurgency operations, also have the potential to become a strategic liability for the U.S. and ISAF ... Because of the classification level of the [...]

I. Introduction On 15 September 2009 the United Nations (U.N.) Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, (1) commonly referred to as the "Goldstone Report," (2) was published. The report [...]

I. Introduction "The essence of warfare is 'the attack.'" (1) Today, however, "the legal norms regarding attacks are increasingly revealing themselves to be less than fully settled." (2) A particularly [...]

Introduction As the widespread opposition to the Justice Department's November 2009 announcement that alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be tried in civilian court suggests, (1) most Americans believe [...]

I. Introduction For any Army judge advocate, and for judge advocates of other services as well, the instruction provided by the International and Operational Law Department at The Judge Advocate [...]

In a 2009 article in the Armed Forces Journal, Field Artillery Captain (CPT) Robert Chamberlain wrote, "The American military has become relatively self-congratulatory of late about our newfound aptitude for [...]

Introduction You are the brigade judge advocate for a U.S. Army Stryker brigade combat team in the midst of a combat deployment to Afghanistan. Arriving at the tactical operations center [...]

While previously wars were primarily between well-established States, in modern inter-ethnic armed conflicts such as that in the former Yugoslavia, new States are often created during the conflict and ethnicity [...]

I. Introduction On 12 July 2006, Israel launched missiles and deployed armed troops into Lebanon, its neighbor to the north. (1) Israel's acts were in response to Hezbollah guerillas operating [...]

Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. Sun Tzu, The Art of War It [...]

"The rumors of [its] death are greatly exaggerated." (2) During the early days of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) provided [...]

The original volunteers for the 442d from the camps in 1943 had sometimes chosen to serve their country against the wishes of their parents and the pressure of their peers. [...]

The law of war is a hot topic in public discourse and academic circles. Topics such as interrogation, treatment of unlawful combatants and targeting of insurgents in Iraq and elsewhere [...]

Terrorism is a global menace. It calls for a united, global response. To defeat it, all nations must take counsel together, and act in unison. That is why we have [...]

Executive Summary United States Special Operations Forces (SOF) conduct commando raids resulting in defeated enemy soldiers who are either wounded or neutralized as effective fighting forces. Some scholars indicate that [...]

Introduction On 9 May 2006, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England signed Department of Defense Directive (DODD) 2311.01E, (1) marking another chapter in the long and distinguished history of the [...]

"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." [...]

On 2 January 2005, the Washington Post ran an article entitled "For U.S. Solders, A Frustrating and Fulfilling Mission." (1) That article included a photograph with the following caption: "U.S. [...]

No matter how hard we try to take our world with us, we will still find that we sometimes must fight the enemy on his ground, by his rules. This [...]

At the end of September, the Senate provided its advice and consent for five law of war treaties, many of which have been languishing in the Senate for years. The [...]

On 20 July 2007, President Bush signed Executive Order 13,440. (1) The Order, attached as an appendix to this note, "interprets the meaning and application of the text of Common [...]