The US Department of Defense Law of War Manual: An Update

Abstract

One of the major legal instruments the US Department of Defense (DoD) will be relying on in terms of planning and carrying out its activities in the near future is a new law of war military manual which is expected to be published sometime in 2011. While on the surface such a document may not seem of critical interest to those interested in security/strategic studies or to humanitarian activists seeking to ban rather than regulate violence, there are important reasons to place a certain amount of emphasis on this DoD product and to expect that it will have a significant impact, especially on issues that are presently widely debated within the humanitarian legal community. This article aims briefly to introduce the background of the US military Manual, and illustrate the path taken to bring it to fruition over nearly three decades. It will conclude with a brief description of what the Manual will look like when it is eventually published.

This article is based upon research completed while working as an external consultant to the Department of Defense Law of War Working Group from August to December 2009. In addition, the author attended the US Manual International Peer Review Conference at the JAG school in Virginia in May 2009. The author would like to thank Justin Anderson, Anna-Katherine Drake, William H. Boothby, W. Hays Parks for their assistance in the preparation of this article. All errors remain my own.