Digital Commons Network^™

Common Article 1 And The Duty To "Ensure Respect", Michael N. Schmitt, Sean Watts

International Law Studies

Common Article 1 to the four 1949 Geneva Conventions requires Parties to those instruments to “respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances.” The provision is a corollary to the general international legal obligation of States to honor their treaty commitments, expressed classically in the maxim pacta sunt servanda.

Yet, academics and private organizations now use Common Article 1 as a vehicle to reimagine States’ enforcement obligations under the Geneva Conventions. Reinterpreting the article beyond its original meaning, they claim the article includes an “external” obligation—a duty on the part of all States to use …

Autonomous Cyber Weapons And Command Responsibility, Russell Buchan, Nicholas Tsagourias

International Law Studies

Autonomous cyber weapons have made their way onto the battlefield, raising the question of whether commanders can be held criminally responsible under command responsibility when war crimes are committed. The doctrine of command responsibility has a long history in international criminal law and comprises three core elements: the existence of a superior-subordinate relationship, the commander’s knowledge of the crime, and the commander’s failure to prevent or repress the subordinate’s criminal actions. This article unpacks the content of these elements and applies them to autonomous cyber weapons by treating them as being analogous to soldiers since they operate within an organized …

The Human Dimension Of Peace And Aggression, Chiara Redaelli

International Law Studies

Since the adoption of the Charter of the United Nations, the current international legal framework has drastically changed. In its traditional understanding, aggression is “the supreme international crime” aimed at protecting sovereignty and the territorial integrity of states. On the other hand, the U.N. Charter endorses an understanding of peace in the negative sense, that is, as mere absence of war. As human rights have gained momentum, they have helped reshape the legal landscape, a phenomenon referred to as the humanization of international law. How do peace and aggression fit within the humanized legal framework? This article will investigate the …

Reflections On Reading, John E. Jackson

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

And The Whole Mountain Burned, Thomas J. Gibbons, Ray Mcpadden

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

From The Sea To The C-Suite: Lessons Learned From The Bridge To The Corner Office, Ed Gillen, Cutler Dawson, Taylor Baldwin Kiland

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

The Modernisation Of The Republic Of Korea Navy: Seapower, Strategy And Politics, Alexander M. Hynd, Ian Bowers

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

The Mayaguez Crisis, Mission Command, And Civil-Military Relations, John Garofano, Christopher J. Lamb

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

A New Conception Of War: John Boyd, The U.S. Marines, And Maneuver Warfare, Dale C. Rielage, Ian T. Brown

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

The Kill Chain: Defending America In The Future Of High-Tech Warfare, Martin L. Cook, Christian Brose

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

The Kremlin Letters: Stalin’S Wartime Correspondence With Churchill And Roosevelt, John B. Hattendorf, David Reynolds, Vladimir Pechatnov

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

Peak Oil, Progressivism, And Josephus Daniels, 1913–21, Roger Stern

Naval War College Review

Daniels’s time as Secretary of the Navy was activated by Progressivism and peak oil. To preserve the Naval Oil Reserve, Daniels ultimately resorted to seizing oil, always at a below-market price and sometimes without compensation at all. His campaign to save the Navy from both peak oil and the ostensible predations of “big oil” ended in fiasco—fuel-oil seizures led by armed Marines.

A “New Look” At Cold War Maritime Defense—The Royal Canadian Navy’S Seaward Defence Report And The Threat Of The Missile-Firing Submarine, 1955, Michael Whitby

Naval War College Review

The Soviets’ development in the mid-1950s of the capability to launch nuclear-armed missiles from conventional submarines constituted a significant challenge to Allied antisubmarine forces during the Cold War, impacting the U.S. Navy and Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) most. The RCN’s 1955 Seaward Defence Report reveals how a midsize navy with comparatively limited resources charged with defending a long coastline and valuable strategic targets proposed to cope with dramatically changing circumstances.

“Neither Fish Nor Fowl Nor Yet Good Red Herring”—Joint Institutions, Single-Service Priorities, And Amphibious Capabilities In Postwar Britain, Ian Speller

Naval War College Review

A joint approach to institutional responsibility for amphibious warfare served British needs during the Second World War but contributed to poor results after 1945. British capabilities did not recover until amphibious warfare became the particular responsibility of the naval service.

“Things Done By Halves”—Observations From America’S First Great-Power Competition, Benjamin F. Armstrong

Naval War College Review

By looking to the maritime past and scuttling the idea that somehow the “gray zones” of today have initiated something unique to our contemporary world, naval forces will be better prepared to address the challenges presented by maritime security, naval irregular warfare, and great-power friction on the world’s oceans. An examination of the Quasi War with France illuminates key questions for strategists and planners considering the interactions among great powers.

Ameliorating The Alliance Dilemma In An Age Of Gray-Zone Conflict—Lessons Learned From The U.S.-Japan Alliance, Michael M. Bosack

Naval War College Review

Fear of abandonment and entrapment can affect alliance management in a modern strategic environment marked by gray-zone conflict. Applying notable takeaways from scholarship to the context of the modern security environment identifies the type of incidents that affect formal alliances. The U.S.-Japan alliance provides a case study of how abandonment and entrapment influence alliance interactions.

China’S Global Navy—Today’S Challenge For The United States And The U.S. Navy, James E. Fanell

Naval War College Review

The PRC continues to build a naval force that, if left unchallenged, will be increasingly capable of achieving sea control in the global maritime commons as early as 2030, and potentially achieving sea superiority by 2049.

President's Forum, Shoshana Chatfield Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy, President, Naval War College

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

From The Editors, Robert Ayer

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

Autumn 2020 Full Issue, The U.S. Naval War College

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

China Maritime Report No. 11: Securing China's Lifelines Across The Indian Ocean, Jeffrey Becker

CMSI China Maritime Reports

How is China thinking about protecting sea lines of communication (SLOCs) and maritime chokepoints in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) in times of crisis or conflict? Relying on Chinese policy documents and writings by Chinese security analysts, this report argues that three critical challenges limit the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN’s) ability to project power into the region and defend access to SLOCs and chokepoints, particularly in times of crisis: (1) the PLAN’s relatively modest presence in the region compared to other powers, (2) its limited air defense and anti-submarine warfare capabilities, and (3) its limited logistics and sustainment infrastructure …

Autonomy And Precautions In The Law Of Armed Conflict, Eric Talbot Jensen

International Law Studies

Already a controversial topic, legal debate and broader discussions concerning the amount of human control required in the employment of autonomous weapons—including autonomous cyber capabilities—continues. These discussions, particularly those taking place among States that are Parties to the 1980 Certain Conventional Weapons Convention, reveal a complete lack of consensus on the requirement of human control and serve to distract from the more important question with respect to autonomy in armed conflict: under what conditions could autonomous weapons “select” and “attack” targets in a manner that complies with the law of armed conflict (LOAC).

This article analyzes the specific LOAC rules …

Autonomous Cyber Capabilities And The International Law Of Sovereignty And Intervention, Michael N. Schmitt

International Law Studies

This article explores the intersection of autonomous cyber capabilities and two primary rules of international law—the respect for the sovereignty of other States and the prohibition on coercive intervention into another State's internal or external affairs. Of all the rules of international law, these are the likeliest to be violated through employment of cyber capabilities, whether autonomous or not. This raises the question of whether a cyber operation that involves autonomous capabilities presents unique issues with respect to the application of the two rules. The article concludes that while there are numerous unsettled issues surrounding their application to cyber operations, …

The Interplay Of International Obligations Connected To The Conduct Of Others: Toward A Framework Of Mutual Compliance Among States Engaged In Partnered Warfare, Berenice Boutin

International Law Studies

This article examines international obligations that arise in relation to the conduct of other States, and analyzes how they apply and interact in the context of partnered warfare. It investigates rules of State responsibility relevant to the context of partnered warfare, as well as primary norms that impose obligations connected to the conduct of others. In essence, they consist of obligations not to actively help to or to blindly let others do what a State would not do itself. It is argued that, taken together, these rules form the contour of an overarching framework of mutual compliance among States cooperating …

An Incident In The South China Sea, Rob Mclaughlin

International Law Studies

This article assesses characterization issues under the law of the sea, through the medium of an International Law Studies “maritime situation.” The article begins with a hypothetical scenario concerning an incident between a NATO warship and PRC vessels near Subi Reef and Thitu Island in the South China Sea. The analysis then turns to how we might assess characterization issues under the law of the sea as they apply to this incident. The lenses of analysis employed are: (1) Where, in law of the sea terms, did the incident happen? (2) Who, employing a law of the sea characterization scheme, …

China Maritime Report No. 10: Plan Force Structure Projection Concept, A Methodology For Looking Down Range, Christopher P. Carlson

CMSI China Maritime Reports

Force structure projections of an adversary’s potential order of battle are an essential input into the strategic planning process. Currently, the majority of predictions regarding China’s future naval buildup are based on a simple extrapolation of the impressive historical ship construction rate and shipyard capacity, without acknowledging that the political and economic situation in China has changed dramatically.

Will Cyber Autonomy Undercut Democratic Accountability?, Ashley Deeks

International Law Studies

In recent years, legislative bodies such as the U.S. Congress and the U.K. Parliament have struggled to maintain a role for themselves in government decisions to conduct military operations against foreign adversaries. Some of these challenges arise from constitutional structures, but they are also due to the changing nature of conflict: a shift away from large-scale kinetic operations and toward smaller-scale operations—including cyber operations—that are less visible and that do not require robust legislative support. These modern operations leave legislatures to engage in ex post and sometimes ineffective efforts to hold their executive branches accountable for international uses of force …

Iuu Fishing As A National Security Threat: Revisiting India’S Domestic Framework And Compliance With International Regimes, Pooja Bhatt

International Law Studies

Within India, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing typically has been viewed as a non-traditional security concern that includes food and economic security, as well as broader societal and political issues. This article argues for understanding IUU fishing in a broader and deeper way and to view this issue as a traditional security threat. Several developments merit this approach, including the threat posed by foreign fishing vessels near Indian waters. Such distant water fishing vessels have been found fishing illegally around the world. On several occasions, these vessels are present near the exclusive economic zone of other states, raising serious …

Autonomous Cyber Capabilities Below And Above The Use Of Force Threshold: Balancing Proportionality And The Need For Speed, Peter Margulies

International Law Studies

Protecting the cyber domain requires speedy responses. Mustering that speed will be a task reserved for autonomous cyber agents—software that chooses particular actions without prior human approval. Unfortunately, autonomous agents also suffer from marked deficits, including bias, unintelligibility, and a lack of contextual judgment. Those deficits pose serious challenges for compliance with international law principles such as proportionality.

In the jus ad bellum, jus in bello, and the law of countermeasures, compliance with proportionality reduces harm and the risk of escalation. Autonomous agent flaws will impair their ability to make the fine-grained decisions that proportionality entails. However, a …

China Maritime Report No. 9: Organizing To Fight In The Far Seas, The Chinese Navy In An Era Of Military Reform, Roderick Lee, Morgan Clemens

CMSI China Maritime Reports

The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has been laying the organizational groundwork for far seas operations for nearly two decades, developing logistical and command infrastructure to support a “near seas defense and far seas protection” strategy. In the context of such a strategy, the PLAN’s ability to project power into the far seas depends upon its ability to dominate the near seas, effectively constituting a “sword and shield” approach. Along with the rest of the PLA, the PLAN’s peacetime command structure has been brought into line with its wartime command structures, and in terms of near seas defense, those command …