Nov. 21, 2022

Our military insiders’ views of the new National Defense Strategy

Last month, the US Department of Defense (DOD) released its 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS). This document outlines clear priorities for the department, namely: defense of the homeland; deterring strategic attacks on the United States, allies, and partners; deterring Chinese and Russian aggression while simultaneously maintaining readiness for conflict; and building a resilient Joint Force.

Oct. 11, 2022

New approach at West Point has cadets attacking future war problems

Wrestling with legal questions on how to use high-energy lasers to strike low-orbiting satellites. Designing and testing a hypersonic rocket test vehicle to cross the 100 kilometer line. These are key future warfare problems that need solutions. But it is not colonels or generals in the Pentagon or some underground research facility doing the work; it’s cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point piecing the puzzle together. The above scenarios, involving Cadets Ashley Clegg and McKenzie Arns on lasers and law and Cadet Josiah Gibson on hypersonics, are only a sample of a list of complex work that cadets now undertake at the Army’s premiere university.

Oct. 5, 2022

Civilian Casualties, Accountability, and Prevention Session 18 of the Congressional Study Group

On January 14, 2022, the Congressional Study Group on Foreign Relations and National Security convened over Zoom to discuss the issue of accountability for—and prevention of—civilian casualties resulting from U.S. military operations. In the months prior to the study group session, there had been a number of disturbing media reports relating to such civilian casualties, including a report that one elite unit may have knowingly or deliberately targeted civilians during operations in Syria. This session examined the scope of this problem and the legal strategies that Congress and others might pursue to address it.

Dec. 13, 2021

NPS Researchers Use High-Tech Optics, Artificial Intelligence to Advance Laser Weapons Systems

Researchers at NPS are using every tool at their disposal to reduce atmosphere-induced aberrations, or “clean” the laser beam, so it has a chance to reach a target farther away in a deep turbulence environment.

Sept. 22, 2021

Naval Postgraduate School Examines Hybrid Force 2045

The U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is conducting its annual Warfare Innovation Continuum (WIC) scenario this week on a critical naval priority: the future hybrid force. Led by the NPS Naval Warfare Studies Institute (NWSI), WIC 2021 is addressing a “design challenge” of “How might emerging technologies, new operational concepts and alternative fleet designs contribute to a more effective naval force across the spectrum from competition to conflict, and how do the alternative fleet designs enhance the effectiveness and resilience of joint, combined and coalition forces across all domains?”

July 22, 2021

Learning in the grey zone: how democracies can meet the authoritarian challenge

Innovation by authoritarian nations in the ‘grey zone’ is becoming one of the most serious challenges facing contemporary democracies. It has long been recognised that future conflicts might be won before any shots are fired. But knowing that is cold comfort, because authoritarian states are continually evolving their capacity to develop and deploy offensive tools in their cyber-enabled, information and hybrid warfare arsenals.

Nov. 17, 2020

DOD Works With Partner Nations to Avoid Civilian Casualties During War

A panel of Defense Department experts on the topic spoke remotely at the American Society of International Law. The American military's strong commitment to minimizing civilian casualties to the maximum extent possible and adhering to international humanitarian law principles is enculturated and internalized at all levels of command and across the services, Air Force Maj. John Legg, assistant professor of law at the U.S. Air Force Academy, said.

Oct. 1, 2020

MSCoE Sends: Celebrating 21 years of MSCoE

Each year, the three regiments that call Fort Leonard Wood home spend a very special time with their Soldiers, leaders, families and veterans celebrating their history and heritage. The birthdates of the regiments are: June 16, 1776, for Engineers; June 28, 1918, for Chemical; and Sept. 26, 1941, for Military Police. Although the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence is not a regiment, a branch or a school, it is the organization that proudly executes critical missions for the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, the Army and the Department of Defense. On Oct. 1, we celebrate MSCoE’s 21st anniversary.

Aug. 6, 2020

The Case for Change

Meeting the principal challenges facing the Corps The United States Marine Corps I lead in 2020 finds itself, like the rest of the U.S. defense establishment, at a crossroads. The passing of our Nation's "unipolar moment" and the emergence of revisionist great power competitors in China and Russia, coinciding with a sea change in the character of warfare driven by social and technological change, demands that we move rapidly to adapt to the circumstances of a new era.

Jan. 24, 2020

The law of land warfare handbook is now available as a ‘pocket guide’

The Army has issued a new 200-page handbook for general officers and judge advocates in the service as it looks to update a more than 60-year-old guide for ground-pounders that may find themselves wading through complex legalese. The manual, called the Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Land Warfare, is a fraction of the Defense Department’s 1200-page Law of War manual and a necessary update to the 1956 volume it replaces, according to service leadership.

Dec. 16, 2019

NATO renews pledge to strengthen training on International Humanitarian Law

Last week in Geneva (9-12 December 2019), a NATO delegation attended the 33rd International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, in an observer capacity. The Organization formally pledged to continue a substantive dialogue with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to identify areas where training and education provided by NATO on international humanitarian law may be further enhanced.