The conduct of warfare today raises challenging new legal issues that require prompt and operationally sound responses, according to a new publication (pdf) from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“Modern military operations take place in an increasingly complex geo-political environment. The classic scenario of defending against cross-border aggression represents only one of the challenges facing current [joint forces]. Stability operations, foreign humanitarian assistance operations, and civil-military operations present increased requirements for direct legal support,” the new document states.
“Military lawyers were true combat multipliers in Iraq,” said General David H. Petraeus, who is now U.S. commander in Iraq. “I tried to get all the lawyers we could get our hands on — and then sought more.”
The missions and functions of military lawyers and organizations are described in “Legal Support to Military Operations,” Joint Publication JP 1-04, March 1, 2007.
In anticipation of future known and unknown health security threats, including new pandemics, biothreats, and climate-related health emergencies, our answers need to be much faster, cheaper, and less disruptive to other operations.
To unlock the full potential of artificial intelligence within the Department of Health and Human Services, an AI Corps should be established, embedding specialized AI experts within each of the department’s 10 agencies.
Investing in interventions behind the walls is not just a matter of improving conditions for incarcerated individuals—it is a public safety and economic imperative. By reducing recidivism through education and family contact, we can improve reentry outcomes and save billions in taxpayer dollars.
The U.S. government should establish a public-private National Exposome Project (NEP) to generate benchmark human exposure levels for the ~80,000 chemicals to which Americans are regularly exposed.