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Immediate Release

DoD Announces New Law of War Manual

Today, the Department of Defense has issued the first-ever DoD-wide Law of War Manual.
The manual is the product of a multi-year effort by military and civilian lawyers from across the Defense Department to develop a department-wide resource for military commanders, legal practitioners, and other military and civilian personnel on the international law principles governing armed conflict.

Although all of the services have previously published respected works on the law of war, which have served as valuable resources for their personnel, DoD has never before published a department-wide law of war manual.

The manual is publicly available here, or at the “News” tab on Defense.gov under “Publications.”