War Crimes and the Protection of Peacekeeping Forces

Tonight, I want to briefly discuss three aspects of the tribunal: structure, jurisdiction and U.S. participation in its creation. Many of you are probably aware that the tribunal consists of three chambers. The judicial chamber is comprised of five appellate judges and two trial panels of three judges each. The United States has a judge - Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald - who, before she went to the Hague was a federal district court judge and a professor at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston. I had an opportunity to meet her and brief her on some tribunal issues we in the U.S. government were working on

Short v. The Kingdom of The Netherlands: Is it Time to Renegotiate the NATO Status of Forces Agreement?

Major Lepper examines an apparent irreconcilability between the NATO Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as reflected in the recent Dutch High Court decision of Short v. The Kingdom of the Netherlands. Staff Sergeant Short, a member of the United States Air Force, was charged with the murder of his wife. Under the SOFA, the Netherlands was obligated to surrender Short to the United States. It refused, basing its actions on its adherence to the ECHR and its concerns about the possible implementation of the death penalty in the United States. The ECHR prohibits the extradition of anyone facing inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Although the original ECHR did not prohibit capital punishment, a later amendment to the ECHR, the Sixth Protocol, does prohibit capital punishment. The Dutch High Court relied heavily on the European Court on Human Rights interpretation of the ECHR in the Soering case as the basis for its decision. The Dutch High Court agreed that the NATO SOFA required surrendering SSgt Short to the United States, but determined that the perceived conflict between the SOFA and the ECHR must be resolved by applying the ECHR. The author identifies flaws in the High Court\u27s finding that the ECHR afforded protection for SSgt Short, a finding that created the conflict between the SOFA obligation to surrender the prisoner and the ECHR mandate to shield him from capital punishment. Citing European Court precedent and the Vienna Convention\u27s conflicting treating rules, the author finds that the SOFA and the ECHR can be read consistently and suggests that renegotiation of the SOFA is neither necessary nor inevitable. The author next evaluates the Dutch position in Short. Because that position is grounded in the emerging jurisprudence of human rights, the author reviews Dutch human rights law and policy and the applicable portions of the ECHR. The assertion that international human rights laws supersede other international laws is analyzed in the context of international law\u27s practice of ranking certain norms as fundamental. Finding that capital punishment does not violate a peremptory norm, the author then analyzes the claim that it violates a fundamental right. If the right not to face capital punishment is indeed fundamental, the issue becomes whether the NATO SOFA or a customary regional norm prevails. The author considers arguments supporting each position and the suggestion that international treaty law justifies a revision of the NATO SOFA. Major Lepper, however, concludes that similar cases should be decided on a case-by-case basis so that both countries\u27 policies can be maintained: strong alliance, military disciplinary control, and human rights. This case-by-case basis must include a mutual willingness to reach a compromise such as the one agreed to in Short: the United States agreed to forego the option of capital punishment in order to retain disciplinary control over its military personnel

Season of Sampling and Season of Birth Influence Serotonin Metabolite Levels in Human Cerebrospinal Fluid

BACKGROUND: Animal studies have revealed seasonal patterns in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) monoamine (MA) turnover. In humans, no study had systematically assessed seasonal patterns in CSF MA turnover in a large set of healthy adults. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Standardized amounts of CSF were prospectively collected from 223 healthy individuals undergoing spinal anesthesia for minor surgical procedures. The metabolites of serotonin (5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, 5-HIAA), dopamine (homovanillic acid, HVA) and norepinephrine (3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol, MPHG) were measured using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Concentration measurements by sampling and birth dates were modeled using a non-linear quantile cosine function and locally weighted scatterplot smoothing (LOESS, span = 0.75). The cosine model showed a unimodal season of sampling 5-HIAA zenith in April and a nadir in October (p-value of the amplitude of the cosine = 0.00050), with predicted maximum (PC(max)) and minimum (PC(min)) concentrations of 173 and 108 nmol/L, respectively, implying a 60% increase from trough to peak. Season of birth showed a unimodal 5-HIAA zenith in May and a nadir in November (p = 0.00339; PC(max) = 172 and PC(min) = 126). The non-parametric LOESS showed a similar pattern to the cosine in both season of sampling and season of birth models, validating the cosine model. A final model including both sampling and birth months demonstrated that both sampling and birth seasons were independent predictors of 5-HIAA concentrations. CONCLUSION: In subjects without mental illness, 5-HT turnover shows circannual variation by season of sampling as well as season of birth, with peaks in spring and troughs in fall

Contemporary Ethical Issues of National Security Law

Maj. Gen. Steven Lepper, USAF (Ret.), former Deputy Judge Advocate General, remarks on professional responsibility for lawyers practicing national security law at a time when new technology and modes of warfare are engendering major ethical questions. Followed by conference closing remarks by LENS Executive Director Maj. Gen. Charlie Dunlap, USAF (Ret.). Speaker: Maj. Gen. Steven Lepper, USAF (Ret.), former Deputy Judge Advocate General, United States Air Force Recorded as part of the 2014 LENS Conference: LAWshaping in National Security: The Past, the Progress, and the Path Ahead

Evaluation of UAVs as an underwater acoustics sensor deployment platform

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Remote Sensing on 25 Nov 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/01431161.2016.1259686.Marine surveys carried out by Passive Acoustic Monitors conventionally use towed hydrophone arrays, which requires dedicated surface observation boats. This is a costly and slow process, which could be made cheaper and quicker by using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Presented in this paper are the initial findings from using UAVs to capture underwater acoustic signals from an acoustic test tank

Protecting United Nations Forces

Moderator: Major General Indar Jit Rikhye, (Indian Army Ret.), Senior Advisor on UN Affairs, United States Institute of Peace Overview: Mahnoush H. Arsanjani, Legal Officer - Codification, Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations The Rwanda Experience: Lieutenant Colonel Steven J. Lepper, USAF, Deputy Legal Counsel to the Chairman, JCS, Department of Defense The Former Yugoslavia Experience: Major General John Arch MacInnis, CMM, CD, Commander, Land Force Atlantic Area, and formerly Deputy Commander, United Nations Protection Force in the former Yugoslavia The Somalia Experience: Colonel Charles J. Dunlap, Jr., USAF, Staff Judge Advocate, U.S. Strategic Comman