Emerging Technologies
Ukraine Symposium – The Continuing Autonomous Arms Race
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags into a grueling war of attrition, both sides are intensifying efforts to achieve a battlefield breakthrough with technological innovation. The invasion has sparked a rapid proliferation of low-cost drones and robotic systems that...
When Technology Meets Humanity: Harnessing New and Emerging Technologies at the End of Conflict
New and emerging technologies offer significant contributions toward facilitating the end of conflict and protecting and easing the effects of conflict on the civilian population. Over the past decade and more, security and legal scholars have devoted enormous...
The Drone Threat, the Laser Response, and the Law – Part II
The first part of this two-part post, described and explained the weapons law principles and rules that apply to suicide or kamikaze drones. It also set forth and explained applicable targeting law principles and rules and addressed the legality of mass attacks...
The Drone Threat, the Laser Response, and the Law – Part I
In conflicts during the last few years, unmanned air weapons, commonly referred to as drones, have increasingly been used to undertake attacks of ground targets. These attacks have recently involved large numbers of these drones, often directed at multiple targets....
Lieber Workshop 2024: International Law and the Future of Multi-Domain Operations in the Indo-Pacific
Editors’ note: The views expressed in this post are those of the authors and not necessarily those of any other workshop participants. From October 28 to 31, 2024, the Lieber Institute for Law and Warfare hosted its eighth annual Lieber Workshop at its institutional...
Electronic Warfare and the Law of Armed Conflict
Earlier this year, we had the pleasure of participating in the “Future of Warfare and the Law Symposium” at U.S. Army Futures Command in Austin, Texas. The conference, which was co-sponsored by Army Futures Command, the Strauss Center for International Security and...
Lawfully Using Autonomous Weapon Technologies
Editor's note: This post is derived from the author’s recently published book Lawfully Using Autonomous Weapon Technologies, published with Springer Press. We, members of the human race in 2024, already live in a world saturated with artificial intelligence (AI). Like...
Russia’s Alleged Nuclear Anti-Satellite Weapon: International Law and Political Rhetoric
The development and testing of anti-satellite weapons (ASATs), as well as debates concerning the legal and policy implications of ASAT testing and use, have existed since soon after the dawn of the Space Age. The centrality of these issues has waxed and waned over...
Israel-Hamas 2024 Symposium – AI-Based Targeting in Gaza: Surveying Expert Responses and Refining the Debate
The reported use of artificial intelligence-enabled decision-support systems (AI-DSS), in particular the Gospel and Lavender, by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in their military operations in Gaza has been controversial. Allegedly, these two systems are used to...
State Submissions on the Legal Review of AWS and Possible Good Practices
The review of weapons, means, and methods of warfare for compliance with international law has attracted significant attention during the international debate about the regulation and use of autonomous weapon systems (AWS). Legal reviews have been cited as one tool...
Israel – Hamas 2024 Symposium – Beyond the Headlines: Combat Deployment of Military AI-Based Systems by the IDF
It is well established that new and emerging technologies impact how States conduct military operations. Recently, we have seen notable innovations in the development and deployment of autonomous weapon systems (AWS), military use of cyberspace, and many more....
Lieber Studies Big Data Volume – Big Data and Armed Conflict – Legal Issues Above and Below the Armed Conflict Threshold
Editor’s note: This is the first post in a symposium addressing themes from a new book entitled Big Data and Armed Conflict: Legal Issues Above and Below the Armed Conflict Threshold, the ninth in the Lieber Institute’s Lieber Studies series with Oxford University...
