Readings: Caelum Liberam: Air Defense Identification Zones Outside Sovereign Airspace, by Peter A. Dutton
Given all the discussion around China's controversial announcement this past week of an "Air Defense Identification Zone" in the East China Sea, it seems like a good moment for a Reading on the law and state practice of ADIZ. Peter A.
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Given all the discussion around China's controversial announcement this past week of an "Air Defense Identification Zone" in the East China Sea, it seems like a good moment for a Reading on the law and state practice of ADIZ. Peter A. Dutton, a professor at the US Naval War College, published in 2009 an excellent article on this subject in the American Journal of International Law, "Caelum Liberam: Air Defense Identification Zones Outside Sovereign Airspace" (103 AJIL (2009)). It covers the history of ADIZs in law and international politics, their current use and controversies, and anticipates many of the questions at issue in China's assertion of an ADIZ today that purports to cover the airspace around territory that is in dispute. Julian Ku at Opinio Juris has also been writing on this issue (and others related to China); he has a very useful post (see also the comments to it) a few days ago; and finally, I comment over at Volokh Conspiracy, drawing on both Dutton and Ku.
Kenneth Anderson is a professor at Washington College of Law, American University; a visiting fellow of the Hoover Institution; and a non-resident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution. He writes on international law, the laws of war, weapons and technology, and national security; his most recent book, with Benjamin Wittes, is "Speaking the Law: The Obama Administration's Addresses on National Security Law."
