Topics
Biometrics on the Battlefield
We use biometrics on a daily basis. You need only think of unlocking your phone with your fingerprint, using iris recognition to pass through airport security, or the biometrics integrated into your passport. Considering the possibilities this technology...
The Efficacy of the U.S. Army’s Law of War Training Program
On July 2, 2020, the Department of Defense reissued DoD Directive 2311.01, the DoD Law of War Program.* Under the previous Directive, issued in 2006, Secretaries of the Military Departments were required to “[i]mplement programs in their respective Military...
The Importance of Clarity and Flexibility in the Law
Adherence to the law of armed conflict remains a bedrock value of professional militaries. The legal obligation of any professional military to wage war in a just and lawful manner remains unquestioned. Yet the rules are regularly challenged. In particular,...
NATO in Outer Space: A Domain Too Far?
This post examines whether Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty is applicable to armed attacks in outer space. NATO nations have recently recognized outer space as a new operational domain for the Alliance. Although the drafters of the North Atlantic Treaty...
The UN Soleimani Report and the U.S. Article 51 Notification
On July 9, 2020, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions released a report on the legality of targeted killing by drone strikes. The backdrop for the report is the U.S. strike against Qasem Soleimani on January 2, 2020. And,...
Whither Recognition of Belligerency?
Delineating, defining, and dealing with how the law of armed conflict applies to civil wars and other non-international armed conflicts (NIACs) has presented constant legal challenges over the last two decades. Numerous questions have arisen. What is the legal...
Space Power, Space Force, and Space Law
Space is a unique operational domain not only due to its physics, but also due to its legal regime. Although Space Power, the inaugural doctrinal manual of the U.S. Space Force, does not focus on legal issues in and of themselves, it does mention at least one...
Cyber Operations and The Imperfect Art of “Translating” the Law of War to New Technologies
Since the inception of combat as an organized endeavor, humans have innovated new means and methods of warfare to gain advantage over their adversaries. Some of these innovations have been subtle. Others have been far more impactful and transformative,...
Noteworthy Releases of International Cyber Law Positions—PART II: Iran
Last week, Iran’s Armed Forces released its “Declaration of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran Regarding International Law Applicable to the Cyberspace.” Noting that the military has a “mandate…under the command of the Supreme...
Noteworthy Releases of International Cyber Law Positions—PART I: NATO
Although efforts such as the Tallinn Manual 2.0 project have contributed greatly to understanding how international law rules apply in the cyber context, much work remains to be done. Indeed, a significant grey zone in the international law of cyberspace...
Imagining Justice for Syria
The situation in Syria poses an acute—some might say existential—challenge to the international community’s commitment to justice and accountability. The conflict has been so destructive, the crime base so massive, the pool of potential defendants so...
“DEEPFAKES” AND THE LAW OF ARMED CONFLICT: ARE THEY LEGAL?
The use of misleading “deepfakes” has risen dramatically across the globe. As with so much of emerging technology, deepfakes will inevitably become a part of armed conflict. While perfidious deepfakes would almost certainly violate the law of armed conflict, those...
Welcome to Articles of War
Welcome It’s our sincere pleasure to introduce you to Articles of War, the new digital publication of the Lieber Institute for Law & Land Warfare at West Point. In this initial post we’ll share our plans and introduce you to our editorial team. But first a quick...
Francis Lieber’s Living Legacy
It is an honor to pen one of the first posts for the Lieber Institute for Law and Land Warfare’s Articles of War. This forum provides an important venue for practitioners of the law of war to engage with each other—both domestically and internationally—to articulate...
Will Autonomy in U.S. Military Operations Centralize Legal Decision-making?
The growth of machine learning tools in military operations raises new questions about where the most critical decision points are located. Are the most important political, operational, and legal decisions made out in the field, where the tools are used, or in...
Targeting Non-State “Mixed Groups”
“Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.” General George Patton, May 31, 1944, Addressing the 6th Armored Division Sounds simple, but deceptively...
Civilian Casualty Aversion and the Potential Nullification of “Shock”
In recent years, there has been a growing critical focus on the infliction of civilian casualties during hostilities, especially during counter-insurgency operations. But U.S. and NATO armed forces are not myopically focused on this domain of operations. Indeed, they...