On 31 January 2017, the U.N. Panel of Experts on Yemen (Panel) issued a report to the Security Council concluding that widespread violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) had occurred in the Yemeni armed conflict during 2016.[1] The panel investigated numerous cases of alleged law of armed conflict (LOAC) violations…

As the prevalence and importance of data in society grows, and the lines between civilian and military information technology infrastructure continue to blur, such systems and the data residing on them will become increasingly important in future armed conflict. As with every development of warfighting technology throughout history, the weaponization…

Why there was more to the 2011 withdrawal than political expediency. — In recent days, multiple sources have claimed that the withdrawal of the vast majority of U.S. combat forces from Iraq in 2011 was a grave mistake by President Obama. The Washington Post called the move politically expedient ahead of the 2012 presidential election. Former generals and members of Congress have…

A recent report by the advocacy organization, Protect our Defenders (POD), accuses the Pentagon of giving false and misleading testimony to Congress in opposition to the Military Justice Improvement Act. The MJIA was introduced by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) in order to combat what she and others perceive as the…

The First Step is Admitting You Have a Problem. If you have had even passing contact with a media outlet in the past few years, chances are you have seen headlines and stories presenting alarming, and often excoriating, views on the “epidemic” of sexual assault in the military and the flaws of the military justice system. …

Breaking the Ice: The First Foray… I may be breaking the cardinal rule here. I sit down to write with no particular topic in mind to write about and nothing particularly insightful to say. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. So instead I will focus on why I am writing…