Battlefield Next

On today’s podcast we have Major Joshua Wolff, national security law attorney and the Army Element Command Judge Advocate for U.S. Space Command. Major Wolff recently completed a Masters of Law in Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications at the University of Nebraska, College of Law. On today’s episode, Major Wolff and Major Coffey discuss MAJ Wolff’s thesis, “Interrupted Broadcasts? The Law Of Neutrality And Communications Satellites”**, which analyzes the relationship between the law of neutrality and space law and proposes a framework to resolve potential conflict between the two bodies of international law.
Below is a timeline of some of the subject-areas discussed during the episode:
00:00 Introduction
00:57 Overview of Space Law
02:32 Discussion of the Thesis “Interrupted Broadcasts? The Law of Neutrality
And Communications Satellites”**
03:30 Overview of Neutrality
04:54 General Rule of Neutrality
06:13 Current State of Neutrality
07:09 Relevancy of the Hague Treaties to Satellites
08:35 Space Law and Neutrality
10:19 Gaps in Laws and Treaties
12:16 Problems that the Gaps Cause
13:13 Proposed Analysis to Close the Gaps
14:20 Neutrality Obligations in Space during an International Armed Conflict
16:03 Book Recommendations
17:24 Closing Remarks
MAJ Wolff’s Book Recommendations:
“Challenges to Security in Space” Defense Intelligence Agency
“The Shadow War: Inside the Modern-Day Undeclared Battles Waged Against America” by Jim Sciutto
“Eccentric Orbits” by John Bloom*
“Space 2.0” by Rod Pyle
*CORRECTION: In the episode, Major Wolff referred to the author of “Eccentric Orbits” as “Joe Bob Briggs”. “Joe Bob Briggs” is the alter ego of John Bloom, the credited author of “Eccentric Orbits”. Mr. Bloom has also publishes under that name. This serves as the correction that the credited author of “Eccentric Orbits” is John Bloom.
**UPDATE: Major Wolff’s Paper is in pre-publication review. This blogpost will be updated with a link once the paper is published.
For more information related to FCD you can follow us on Twitter @jagfcd or by visiting our webpage. If you have recommendations or suggestions about future topics or guests, please send us an email at [email protected], or you can leave us a comment by signing in below. Finally, if you like what you hear, please leave us a review on iTunes and subscribe to “Battlefield Next” on your favorite podcast app. While this is a podcast created by US Army Judge Advocates from Future Concepts Directorate, our goal is to reach other judge advocates and lawyers across the DoD, law students, and members of academia. Your reviews help make this possible.
For more information about the US Army JAG Corps, you can go here. If you’re interested in joining the Army JAG Corps, you can get more information by contacting the Judge Advocate Recruiting Office (JARO) or by visiting their webpage.
***Music by Joseph McDade
****The views expressed on the podcast are the views of the participants and do not necessarily represent those of The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, the Army, the Department of Defense, or any other agency of the US Government.

On today’s podcast we have BG Joseph B. Berger, the Commanding General of The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, the premier training, education, and analysis institution for military law. As the Commander, BG Berger is responsible for developing and executing our Army’s (and in many cases, the Joint Force’s) institutional level legal training of uniform and civilian attorneys, paralegals, and legal administrators. The Legal Center and School’s mandate is not just limited to members of the JAG Corps; it is also responsible for legal training across the Army, from what our Soldiers learn about the law of war during basic combat training to what our most senior commanders learn during their Senior and General Officer Legal Orientations, mandatory courses before they can assume command of our Nation’s sons and daughters.
In mid-May, MAJ Coffey and MAJ Wellemeyer interviewed BG Berger via Zoom to discuss a number of topics including decision-making by lawyers as leaders, lessons learned from his time with special operations units, the speed of decision-making under the OODA loop process, under-writing failure as a leader, and lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Below is a timeline of some of the subject-areas discussed during the episode:
00:00 Introduction
01:05 Decision-making and lessons from SOF assignments
04:50 OODA loop, risk, and mistakes: how leaders under-write failure
06:45 Confusing “energy” with “progress”
07:49 OODA loop applied to the shift in distributed learning at TJAGLCS
13:44 How the OODA loop ties into mission command
16:10 Comfort with risk and how leaders can underwrite failure to build success
20:47 Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic
23:07 How stress increases at lower echelons
25:06 Closing comments by BG Berger
27:05 Book recommendations
31:55 End notes
If you’re interested in learning more about some of the topics covered during this episode, we recommend the following additional reading and resources:
Early Lessons from the U.S. Army’s Campaign to Conquer COVID-19 by Loren Thompson
Explanation of the OODA Loop
BG Berger’s Book Recommendations:
“Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong” by Eric Barker
“Why We Write: Craft Essays on Writing War” edited by Randy Brown and Steve Leonard
“Pale Rider: The Spanish Flue of 1918 and How it Changed the World” by Laura Spinney
For more information related to FCD you can follow us on Twitter @jagfcd or by visiting our webpage. If you have recommendations or suggestions about future topics or guests, please send us an email at [email protected], or you can leave us a comment by signing in below. Finally, if you like what you hear, please leave us a review on iTunes and subscribe to “Battlefield Next” on your favorite podcast app. While this is a podcast created by US Army Judge Advocates from Future Concepts Directorate, our goal is to reach other judge advocates and lawyers across the DoD, law students, and members of academia. Your reviews help make this possible.
For more information about the US Army JAG Corps, you can go here. If you’re interested in joining the Army JAG Corps, you can get more information by contacting the Judge Advocate Recruiting Office (JARO) or by visiting their webpage.
*Music by Joseph McDade
**The views expressed on the podcast are the views of the participants and do not necessarily represent those of The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, the Army, the Department of Defense, or any other agency of the US Government.

On today’s episode, Mr. Fred L. Borch* and Major Jason C. Coffey discuss Judge Advocates in the Great War, covering the pre-World War I Judge Advocate General’s Corps, its expansion after the United States entered the war, Judge Advocate training, and the duties Judge Advocates performed during the war.
Below is a timeline of some of the subject-areas discussed during the episode:
00:00 Episode Introduction
00:59 Pre-World War I Judge Advocate General’s Corps
02:34 The Expansion of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps
04:00 The First 25 and Incremental Expansion
05:58 Judge Advocate Duties in the United States
08:39 Military Justice Agreements in World War I
11:09 Other Legal Issues Judge Advocates Faced
18:29 Social Changes in the Judge Advocate General’s Department
21:15 Judge Advocate Education and Training
24:35 Book Recommendations
28:58 End of Episode
Mr. Borch’s Book Recommendations:
Fred L. Borch. “Judge Advocates in the Great War”. The Army Lawyer, November/December 2018, pages 10-18. Book version expected Spring 2021.
“To Raise and Discipline an Army” by Joshua E. Kastenberg.
“The New Wilderness” by Diane Cook.
“They Shall Not Grow Old” by Peter Jackson.
“1917” by Sam Mendes
For more information related to FCD you can follow us on Twitter @jagfcd or by visiting our webpage. If you have recommendations or suggestions about future topics or guests, please send us an email at [email protected], or you can leave us a comment by signing in below. Finally, if you like what you hear, please leave us a review on iTunes and subscribe to “Battlefield Next” on your favorite podcast app. While this is a podcast created by US Army Judge Advocates from Future Concepts Directorate, our goal is to reach other judge advocates and lawyers across the DoD, law students, and members of academia. Your reviews help make this possible.
For more information about the US Army JAG Corps, you can go here. If you’re interested in joining the Army JAG Corps, you can get more information by contacting the Judge Advocate Recruiting Office (JARO) or by visiting their webpage.
*Mr. Borch is a professor of Legal History and Leadership at The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, and the Regimental Historian and Archivist for the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
**Music by Joseph McDade.
***The views expressed on the podcast are the views of the participants and do not necessarily represent those of The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, the Army, the Department of Defense, or any other agency of the US Government.

“Recorded in the SGM Nolan reading room and library at The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, Mr. Borch guides us through the life and decades of exemplary service of the first JAG Corps Sergeant Major—a position now known as the Regimental Command Sergeant Major.
”**Music by Joseph McDade
***The views expressed on the podcast are the views of the participants and do not necessarily represent those of The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, the Army, the Department of Defense, or any other agency of the US Government.

Mr. Borch reading from a 123-year-old manual? Sounds like the latest episode of Fred Talks. Join us as Mr. Borch shines a light on the proverbial dark ages before the UCMJ. What was it like to try a case 150 years ago? Why and when did the nation move towards a standard uniform code? All this and more on episode 4!
***The views expressed on the podcast are the views of the participants and do not necessarily represent those of The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, the Army, the Department of Defense, or any other agency of the US Government.