COL Ronald Alcala
COL Ronald Alcala
Ronald Alcala is a Colonel in the United States Army. He is an Academy Professor and Dean of the United States Military Academy Preparatory School at West Point. Before joining the faculty, Colonel Alcala was a Judge Advocate responsible for advising commanders on criminal law, international law, and administrative law issues. His assignments included service in Europe and deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Colonel Alcala is co-editor of The Impact of Emerging Technologies on the Law of Armed Conflict (Oxford University Press, 2019) and Ukraine Symposium: International Law in the Crucible of Conflict (West Point Press, 2025). His work has appeared in the Harvard National Security Journal, International Review of the Red Cross, American University Law Review, and Journal of National Security Law and Policy, among other publications. He has also written for Foreign Policy, Just Security, and the Harvard International Review.
Colonel Alcala is a recipient of NATO’s Serge Lazareff Prize for excellence in legal services and the American Society of International Law’s Richard R. Baxter Military Prize for scholarship on the law of war. He is Executive Editor of the West Point Press and is a member of the Executive Committee of the American Society of International Law’s law of armed conflict interest group. Additionally, he serves as Officer-in-Charge of the West Point Army Fencing Team.
Colonel Alcala earned a B.A. in History and Classics from Williams College and a J.D. from the George Washington University Law School. He holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and an LL.M. in Military Law from the Judge Advocate General’s School in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Articles of War posts by COL Ronald Alcala
