International Law and Armed Conflict Fundamental Principles and Contemporary Challenges in the Law of War, Second Edition

Gregory P. Noone

Dr. Gregory P. Noone, Ph.D., J.D., is the Director of the Fairmont State University National Security and Intelligence Program and an Associate Professor of Political Science and Law. Dr. Noone was selected the 2012 West Virginia Professor of the Year. Dr. Noone is a member of the Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG was nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize) where he has conducted justice system assessments in Uganda and Côte d’Ivoire as well as provided assistance in post-Gaddafi Libya and to the Syrian opposition regarding transitional justice. Dr. Noone was also part of the international effort investigating the Myanmar government’s atrocities committed against their Rohingya population. He worked as an investigator in the refugee camps in Bangladesh and as one of the legal experts on the report’s findings. Dr. Noone also worked for the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), an independent, nonpartisan federal institution created by the U.S. Congress to promote research, education, and training on the prevention, management and peaceful resolution of international conflicts. While at USIP, Noone received a Special Act Award for his work in Afghanistan. Dr. Noone previously served as an active duty judge advocate in the U.S. Navy. He held various positions in the Navy including the Head of the International Law Branch and the Foreign Military Rights Affairs Branch in the Navy Judge Advocate General’s International and Operational Law Division at the Pentagon. Dr. Noone also served at the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies (DIILS), where he trained senior military, governmental and non-governmental civilian personnel in the Law of Armed Conflict, Human Rights and other international law topics, in over sixty countries (and has been to 93 countries). Most notably, he has trained members of the Iraqi National Congress, the post-genocide government in Rwanda, the post-Taliban government in Afghanistan, civil society in the Sudan, and senior members of the Russian government. Dr. Noone has also worked as a government prosecutor and a criminal defense counsel. He is a Brockton Massachusetts native who received a B.A. in Political Science from Villanova University, an M.A. in International Affairs from The Catholic University of America, an M.D.S. (Master of Defence Studies) from The Royal Military College of Canada, a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School, and a Ph.D. in Political Science (International Relations) from West Virginia University. Dr. Noone is a Captain in the United States Naval Reserve and has served as the Commanding Officer of the Navy JAG International and Operational Law reserve unit as well as the Commanding Officer of the DIILS reserve unit. In 2009-2010, Dr. Noone was mobilized as the Staff Judge Advocate for the Office for Administrative Review and Detention of Enemy Combatants (OARDEC) at the Pentagon and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Dr. Noone is a graduate of the Canadian Forces College’s Joint Command and Staff Programme (JRCSP 12 and JCSP 36). In 2012, Dr. Noone was appointed by the United Nations to an Independent Experts Panel to review the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight. Dr. Noone is also an adjunct Professor of Law at Roger Williams University School of Law and Case Western Reserve University School of Law where he has taught International Law, Genocide and Atrocity Crimes, International Humanitarian Law, Terrorism, and U.S. Military Law and Legal Policies. He has published and presented articles on the Rwandan Genocide, the Law of Armed Conflict, the International Criminal Court, and Military Tribunals at numerous forums. Dr. Noone appears regularly as a commentator on international and national TV and radio.

Laurie Blank

Laurie R. Blank is a Clinical Professor of Law, Director of the Center for International and Comparative Law and Director of the International Humanitarian Law Clinic at Emory University School of Law, where she teaches the law of armed conflict and works directly with students to provide assistance to international tribunals, non-governmental organizations and militaries around the world on cutting-edge issues in humanitarian law and human rights. Professor Blank is the co-director of a multi-year project on military training programs in the law of war and the co-author of Law of War Training: Resources for Military and Civilian Leaders. Professor Blank is a core expert on the Woomera Manual on International Law Applicable to Conflict in Outer Space and a member of the Air and Missile Project on Legal Education. In addition, she is the Chair of the American Society of International Law Lieber Prize Committee and the series editor of the ICRC’s teaching supplements on IHL, and was a term member of the American Bar Association’s Advisory Committee to the Standing Committee on Law and National Security (2011-2014), a member of the Homeland Security Academic Advisory Council Subcommittee on Countering Violent Extremism, and a member of the Public International Law and Policy Group’s High Level Working Group on Piracy.

She is the author of numerous articles and opinion pieces on topics in the law of armed conflict, including targeted killing and drone strikes, the classification of armed conflict, implementation of the law of armed conflict during military operations, cyber war, and law and legitimacy in armed conflict. Before coming to Emory, Professor Blank was a Program Officer in the Rule of Law Program at the United States Institute of Peace. At USIP, she directed the Experts’ Working Group on International Humanitarian Law, in particular a multi-year project focusing on New Actors in the Implementation and Enforcement of International Humanitarian Law. Professor Blank received an A.B. in Politics from Princeton University, an M.A. in International Relations from The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at The Johns Hopkins University, and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.