Course overview
This course provides a comprehensive overview of the legal framework for the conduct of military operations across all five domains, drawing on both national and international law. Topics covered will include assessment of the constitutional and legislative capacities of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to undertake operations within Australia and overseas, Rules of Engagement and their status under law, executive and legislative boundaries on the deployment of the ADF, use of force and self defence issues, legal interoperability challenges with coalition partners, Maritime Security with particular emphasis on freedom of navigation and coastal state security issues under law, and ethical responsibilities of Government lawyers in dispensing advice in the conduct of operations.
Course learning outcomes
- Understand the nature of national security law and the structure of the domestic and international legal system in relation to military operations;
- Understand the constitutional, legislative and executive power frameworks within which the Australian Defence Force (ADF) operates;
- Examine the internal regulatory framework of ADF operational control and management including particular attention to the place and significance of ‘rules of engagement';
- Examine the application of domestic and international legal regimes to operations short of armed conflict, and in particular those in response to grey zone activities and where attribution of conduct to a state is in question;
- Successfully apply existing legal frameworks to military, naval, air, space and cyber operations
- Critically examine the cultural and institutional framework for the delivery of operational legal advice
- Develop effective skills, both orally and in writing, in the construction of legal argument and analysis on issues of the law applicable to military operations
- Undertake self-directed legal research at a high level, including through the use of online technologies.