REAR ADMIRAL WILLIAM C. MOTT, USN REAR ADMIRAL ROBERT D. POWERS, JR., USN Judge Advocate General of the Navy LIEUTENANT COMMANDER FRANK J. FLYNN, USN Editor The issuance of this publication approved by the Secretary of the Navy on 6 April 1961. The JAG Journal is published by the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Navy as an informal forum for legal matters of cur rent interest to the naval service. The objective of the JAG Journal is to acquaint naval personnel with matters related to military law and to bring to notice recent developments in this field. The JAG Journal publishes material which it considers will assist in achieving this objective, but views expressed in the various ar ticles must be considered as the views of the individual authors, not necessarily bearing the endorsement or approval of the Department of the Navy or of the Judge Advocate General. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. NAVAL WAR COLLEGE Judicious and effective use of United States Navy sea power demands that our naval decisionmakers at all levels be versed in international law. In response to this exigency which is ever increasing in complexity, the Navy has two long-established institutions that have a continuing role in the field. The Naval War College, established in 1884, provides education and training in international law as it relates to the preparation of resident student officers for higher command and staff responsibilities. In 1894, acting to accommodate the need to provide all United States Naval Officers with the opportunity to further their knowledge of international law, the Naval War College inaugurated the "Blue Book" program through which pertinent educational and informational material in the field, uniquely available to the College, is published. In later years, extension-type courses have been offered to non-resident officers. The Office of the Judge Advocate General, authorized by Act of Congress in 1880, provides detailed guidance in matters of international law for those with command responsibilities, and to other components of the naval esablishment. Two widely publicized incidents point up clearly the role of the Navy in international law. Last January, on a nationwide television newscast, an officer on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations gave a briefing concerning the rebel seizure of the S.S. SANTA MARIA and the part being played by the United States Navy in this incident. At almost the same time, Rear Admiral Allen Smith, Jr., USN, Commander Caribbean Sea Frontier, was ordered to play a key role in the affair. Admiral Smith is not an international law specialist; he is a regular line officer who, in the normal course of his duty, was required by higher authority to involve himself deeply and accurately in the complexities of international affairs. During this same period, Rear Admiral William C. Mott, USN, the Judge Advocate General, was apprising the Chief of Naval Operations and the Secretary of the Navy of the international legal implications of mutiny, insurgency, piracy and other legal questions which might arise out of this tortious act on the high seas. To coordinate legal developments, the Office of the Judge Advocate General was in liaison with the Office of the Legal Adviser in the Department of State; the Attorney General; the Office of the General Counsel of the Department of Defense; and the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Plans and Policy. On another occasion in 1959, the young Commanding Officer of a United States Navy radar picket escort was given the mission of intercepting, boarding and inspecting a USSR trawler to determine the extent, if any, of its involvement in Atlantic cable cutting activities. The Commanding Officer of the ship accomplished his mission with dispatch, but on the way to the interception point he must have given a great deal of thought and study to the international law problems which his mission encompassed. An essential ingredient to the successful accomplishment of his task was a working understanding of legal principles at stake. Meanwhile, another part of the Navy's team was in action. In the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, with the Judge Advocate General and his staff assisting, a policy directive from highest governmental authority was being formulated into operational instruction to the naval forces. A short time later the Judge Advocate General was called upon to assist in preparing the language of a note informing the Soviet government that the radar picket's actions were in accordance with international law. These two incidents form but a minor fraction of the number of occasions when our naval commanding officers must have had to understand international law and its specific applications. Further, as given emphasis by the USSR trawler incident, these occasions often happen at sea, where, despite modern communications techniques, the commander concerned is generally remote from sources of detailed legal guidance. He must be prepared to determine the best course of action under the circumstances and to implement properly his decision. It is for reasons such as these, and because of the serious international difficulties which violations of international law might entail, that the Naval War College has always included the study of international law in its curriculum. The Judge Advocate General and his staff have been closely involved in the many facets of our international law activities here at the Naval War College. The traditional relationship between these two in matters of international law has been responsive to the Navy's requirements for education, training and expertise in this acutely important field. Working together the Navy team contributes to the posture of peace and security, under law, for this nation and the world. To the continuance and further growth of this relationship and its purposes, this JAG JOURNAL symposium is dedicated. T THE ANNUAL NAVAL WAR COLLEGE HE UNITED STATES Naval War College was established in Newport, R.I., in 1884 with Commodore S. B. Luce, U.S. Navy, as its first President. It is, today, one of the five highest military educational institutions in the United States and is, by far, the oldest war college in the country. Over the years, the Naval War College has become a place of original research on all questions relating to war, to statesmanship relating to war, and to the prevention of war. In the three quarters of a century since the Naval War College was founded, the study of international law has always occupied a prominent place in the curriculum. The study of questions of maritime international law, particularly in the matter of insurgency and the respective rights and duties of neutrals and beligerents, has been accorded even greater importance. For Throughout the years, the conclusions derived from open discussions of questions of international law have been intended primarily for guidance of Naval Officers. Nonetheless, the Naval War College has taken an active interest in the formulation and codification of international law. For example, through the efforts of Captain C. H. Stockton, U.S. Navy, then President of the Naval War College, a Code of Naval Warfare was promulgated in 1900. The Code was prepared under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, approved by the President of the United States, and published. eign sources quickly expressed opinions. The London Times, on 5 April 1901, reported that the Code contained a great deal of matter that must surely affect the policy of other nations. Other foreign sources, both private and official, made it obvious that the remarks in the London Times represented, in essence, a consensus of opinion in the capitals of the world's leading nations. It was clear that the Code contained provisions upon which there was no current international agreement-provisions which, in the minds of many statesmen, should be studied and evaluated at the international rather than the national level. Because of this world reaction and the fact that the Code, when originally drawn, was intended for presentation to other countries as an international project, the Naval War College, in 1903, recommended that the Code be withdrawn. With the ap proval of the President of the United States, the Secretary of the Navy revoked the Code on 4 February 1904 in order that United States delegates to any future Hague conferences on this subject might be unrestrained. Upon revocation, the Code became the basis of instructions to the United States' delegation to The Hague Conference of 1907. Thus it was, near the turn of the century, that the United States Naval War College became a leader in the endeavor to formulate objective opinion on topics relating to the law of maritime warfare. THE NAVAL WAR COLLEGE "Blue Book" series is another example of leadership in the formulation of international law. This series, the first volume of which appeared in 1901, was established to provide a medium for dissemination to Naval Officers of pertinent educational and informational material in the acutely important field of international law. Fifty-one volumes of this series have now been published; two others are in the process of publication. Throughout the years, this series has grown in importance and has achieved wide recognition as a source of authoritative reference material; it is used extensively by naval decision makers at all levels and has a wide circulation among international lawyers, courts, educational institutions, and law libraries. The Naval War College is now embarked on a program designed to re-vitalize this series and to put succeeding volumes in a form more readily adaptable to the needs of the various users. This project will be the subject of a future article in the JAG JOURNAL. Today at the Naval War College, the annual International Law Study includes various readings from a carefully selected bibliography, lectures by distinguished visitors, and seminars or group discussions. The objectives of the Study, from its inception to the present, have been to anticipate the maritime legal situations that may arise; to obtain the fullest information as to the proper course of action in accordance with opinion and known precedent; and to determine the acceptability and feasibility of a given course of action by evaluating the interactions of pertinent legal and military considerations. In the seminars, each of which is presided over by a visiting international law consultant, students present their solutions to hypothetical problems and case situationsproblems and situations such as might realistically be faced by a Naval Officer in peace or war. The knowledge thus acquired during the formal study is later applied, and even extended, during the academic year by student discussion and consideration of the possible legal aspects of actions inherent in their solutions to various strategic operations problems-operations problems which, traditionally, include at least one international law problem. This educational technique permits consideration of the impact of a moral concept on military operations and thus serves to develop within the student a proper regard for the increasingly important consideration of international politics and international law in military operations-a consideration which is essential to a well-rounded, knowledgeable leader. The student thus sees clearly and unmistakably that international law-that body of arbitrary limitations upon the exercise of force in war which civilized peoples have mutually accepted-has a modifying effect on the solution to every strategical problem. To afford non-resident naval officers an opportunity to gain an understanding of basic principles of international law, the Naval War College instituted an extension course in this subject in 1924. This course develops an appreciation of those principles of international law which relate to the organization of the world community and to the relations between nations; it is limited to those aspects of the field which are of direct concern to the military officer. Under continual revision in an effort to reflect new knowledge and current conditions, this extension course extends to the non-resident officer, to the maximum degree possible, an opportunity to advance his professional training |