Blog

Court Is Assembled: Transatlantic Partnership

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 21:02:00 GMT

It is a tremendous honor to be asked to pen this article for this edition of the Army Lawyer. As Director-General, British Army Legal Services, I am hugely grateful for the opportunity to reflect upon the extraordinarily close relationship enjoyed between the Army Legal Services (ALS) and the United States (U.S.) Army Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps. It is a relationship which is incredibly precious to me; from a personal and professional perspective, indeed, returning to The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, and Charlottesville, felt like coming home.

News & Notes

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 21:00:00 GMT

News & Notes TAL 2020 Issue 2

Azimuth Check: The Power of Deliberate Leader Presence

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 20:58:00 GMT

I firmly determined that my mannerisms and speech in public would always reflect the cheerful certainty of victory—that any pessimism and discouragement I might ever feel would be reserved for my pillow. To translate this conviction into tangible results, I adopted a policy of circulating through the whole force to the full limit imposed by physical considerations. I did my best to meet everyone from general to private with a smile, a pat on the back and a definite interest in his problems.¹

Lore of the Corps: Members of the Regiment Interred in Arlington National Cemetery

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 20:50:00 GMT

Situated on a wooded hillside across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) is one of America’s most revered shrines. Remains of veterans from every U.S. war from the American Revolution to the present conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq are interred in the cemetery.

Career Notes: Advising NATO

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 20:23:00 GMT

Defender-Europe 20 is the largest military deployment to Europe in 25 years, military officials say. It is scheduled to run from April to July with operations occurring throughout parts of Germany, along with countries like Poland and the Baltic States that once were part of the Warsaw Pact. About 17,000 troops from 18 other NATO countries will take part in the U.S.-led division-level exercise.¹

On Exchange at British Army Headquarters

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 20:16:00 GMT

Among the best kept secrets of the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps is the hidden gem of the exchange officer¹ post in the United Kingdom (U.K.). Recently relocated from the schoolhouse in Warminster,² this Lieutenant Colonel billet sits in the heart of the British army’s strategic operational law support effort at Army Headquarters in Andover, Hampshire. This total-immersion operational law role offers an unmatched, two-year broadening opportunity in every sense of the word.

Practice Notes: Part I: Why the FM-27 Update Is Vital for Judge Advocates

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 19:18:00 GMT

On 22 January 2020, Lieutenant General Charles N. Pede addressed members of the 68th Judge Advocate Officer Graduate Course, the Noncommissioned Officers’ Academy’s (NCOA) Basic Leaders Course, and the NCOA’s Advanced Leaders Course to formally announced the publication of Field Manual (FM) 6-27, The Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Land Warfare. What follows is an excerpt of his remarks.

Part II: Combating Enemy Lawfare on the Battlefield

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 18:15:00 GMT

Conflict in the twenty-first century is evolving into areas outside the traditional battlefield into new domains like cyberspace, the electromagnetic spectrum, and space. New technologies like artificial intelligence and autonomous weapon platforms are emerging and further complicate state competition and warfare. The law is also becoming an increasingly contested domain. The law plays an integral role at all levels of military operations, from decisions by the national command authority down to the Soldier in the field about to squeeze his or her trigger. To some commanders and leaders, the extent to which the law plays a role in twenty-first century conflicts is a source of frustration.¹

When Iran Sanctions Collided with Contingency Contracting

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 17:55:00 GMT

On 19 December 2018, Army judge advocates (JA) huddled in video teleconference rooms spread across multiple time zones and locations throughout Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, South Carolina, Alabama, and Washington, D.C. During the roll-call, they identified their respective commands and organizations—U.S. Army Central Command (ARCENT); Combined Joint Task Force–Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR); U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), Vendor Vetting Division; U.S. Army Contracting Command; Office of The Judge Advocate General (OTJAG), Procurement Fraud Division; and the 408th Contracting Support Brigade (CSB).

Judge Advocates and German Attorneys in Nuremberg

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 14:57:00 GMT

On the night of 19 October 2019, a standing-room-only crowd watched as members of the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate (OSJA), 7th Army Training Command (7ATC), and Trial Defense Services (TDS), entered the famed Courtroom 600 in Nuremberg’s Palace of Justice and began trying a court-martial. They were part of a city-wide, biennial exhibition called “The Long Night of Science” that officials in Nuremberg, Germany, billed as one of the most prestigious educational events in the region.¹

The Spoof Is in the Evidence

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 18:19:00 GMT

“Don’t like your buddy’s girlfriend? Well, break them up. Just send a fake text message! www.spoofmytextmessage.com”¹

A Foreign Perspective on Legal Interoperability

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 17:47:00 GMT

With apologies to Sun Tzu,“Know your [allies] and yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril.”¹ Bottom line up front: no two states have identical national laws; even our understanding and application of the laws of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) (Geneva and Hague being the cornerstones) are not uniform. As judge advocates (JA) and legal advisors (LEGADs), we have a central role in identifying and understanding the relevant national positions within combined forces, the implications for the force, and advising how to minimize the operational or tactical impact, in order to ensure mission accomplishment.

No. 1: Breaking Quarantine

Fri, 09 Aug 2024 19:55:00 GMT

Anyone that thinks one person is incapable of changing the world has clearly never eaten an undercooked bat.¹

No. 2: The Past Is the Present

Fri, 09 Aug 2024 18:55:00 GMT

Specification 3d. In declaring, in the open street, in front of the marine barracks, on or about the 1st of September, instant, in the presence of a number of his officers, that he did not care a damn for the president, Jesus Christ, or God Almighty.¹

No. 3: Back to the Future

Fri, 09 Aug 2024 18:34:00 GMT

Are you telling me you built a time machine, out of a DeLorean?¹

No. 4: DoD’s Artificial Intelligence Problem

Fri, 09 Aug 2024 12:58:00 GMT

Some believe the emergence and proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) represents humanity’s “fourth industrial revolution” and that it will drive evolutionary and revolutionary innovation — i.e., make us better at what we do (the things we know) and shape what we do in the future and how we do it (what has yet to be done).¹ The breadth of AI possibilities is not easy to conceptualize, but there is great interest in understanding AI and how it can be effectively and responsibly leveraged.

No. 5: Peacetime Partnerships in the Indo-Pacific

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 20:29:00 GMT

There are three types of people: Those who wonder what happened; those who watched what happened; and those who know what happened. ¹

Closing Argument: Preparing the JAG Corps for an Uncertain Tomorrow

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 20:14:00 GMT

[Phone rings] “Did you see JAGCNet?! TJAG and DJAG approved reimbursement of bar dues—awesome!”¹