Armed Conflict Foreign Relations & International Law

Department of Defense Releases Law of War Manual

Cody M. Poplin
Friday, June 12, 2015, 3:30 PM

The U.S. Department of Defense's Office of the General Counsel has released its long-awaited Law of War Manual. The greatly anticipated tome is the product of a multi-year effort by military and civilian lawyers to create the first ever, department-wide resource on the principles of international law that govern armed conflict.

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The U.S. Department of Defense's Office of the General Counsel has released its long-awaited Law of War Manual. The greatly anticipated tome is the product of a multi-year effort by military and civilian lawyers to create the first ever, department-wide resource on the principles of international law that govern armed conflict.

According to Defense Department General Counsel Stephen Preston, the 1204-page manual is of "fundamental importance" to the Armed Forces of the United States and will help the Pentagon "remember the hard-learned lessons from the past."

Read the full manual here.


Cody Poplin is a student at Yale Law School. Prior to law school, Cody worked at the Brookings Institution and served as an editor of Lawfare. He graduated from the UNC-Chapel Hill in 2012 with degrees in Political Science & Peace, War, and Defense.

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