JOINT SERVICES CONFERENCE ON PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

2005

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Preemption

THE CONFERENCE

 

JSCOPE 2005 attracted nearly 200 participants at the Hilton Springfield Hotel in Springfield, Virginia, once again, this year on 27-28 January.  Participants from six foreign countries attended, as well as cadets and midshipmen from all the US service academies.

 

Dr. Jeff McCausland presented the keynote address.  He raised important issues concerning preemption and nature of the major threats we face today.  His talk included his observations from his recent trip to Iraq.  He drew a distinction between preemption and preventive war and suggested that officers are likely to face increasing uncertainty in the future.

 

Dr. George Lucas, United States Naval Academy, was the after-dinner speaker.  He gave an insightful critique of the role analogical thinking plays in just war theory and cautioned us all to recognize both the strengths and weaknesses of such thinking.

 

This meeting's undergraduate panel fulfilled the promise of last year's inaugural panel and confirmed our commitment to make it a permanent part of JSCOPE.

 

JSCOPE 2005 saw the first special interest session on the Ethics of Intelligence.

 

The Papers

“Pre-emptive War as a Manifestation of Hegemonic Power: Rome, Britain, and the US”

Dr. Paul F. Robinson, University of Hull

 

“This is no Petty Case of Right and Wrong”

Colonel Reed R. Bonadonna, USMCR, US Merchant Marine Academy

 

“Conceptualizing Pre-emptive War in Light of Battered Spouse Self-Defense”

Lieutenant Commander Michael Hallett, USNR, University of Toronto

 

“No Justice, No Peace? Pre-emptive, Preventive and Humanitarian Intervention and the Imbalance of Power”

Dr. Vijay Mascarenhas, Metro State College Denver

 

“Pre-emption, Uncertainty, and Jus ad Bellum

Major Jesse W. Zuck, US Military Academy (paper to be read by Major Michael Jaskowiec)

 

“Is the Doctrine of Pre-emption a Legitimate Element of the Just War Tradition?”

Dr. Robert G. Kennedy, Saint Thomas University

 

“Birth of a Nation: Planning for Regime Change Operations”

Dr. Timothy L. Challans, School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS)

 

“Obeying Orders Under Duress:  A Proposed Role for Ethics Committees in the Military”

Dr. Jan W. Wojcik, Auburn University

 

“Warrior Transitions: From Combat to Social Contract”

Dr. Shannon E. French, US Naval Academy

 

“What’s in a Word? Getting Clear on What We Mean by ‘Pre-emption’”

Lieutenant Colonel John Mark Mattox, US Army

 

“What’s Wrong with Pre-emptive War?”

Dr. Whitley R. P. Kaufman, University of Massachusetts-Lowell

 

“Three Philosophical Difficulties with ‘Pre-emptive War’”

Dr. James Stieb, Drexel University

 

“Pre-emptive War and the Epistemological Dimension of the Morality of War”

Dr. Randall R. Dipert, University at Buffalo (SUNY)

 

“Outsourcing the Profession:  A Look at Military Contractors and their Impact on the Profession of Arms”

Captain Marc O. Hedahl, US Air Force

 

“Courage as Fearlessness”

Dr. Lawrence A. Lengbeyer, US Naval Academy

 

“The Pomo O”

Major Mark S. Swiatek, US Air Force

 

“The Moral Inequality of Professional Officers”

Dr. Roger Wertheimer

Agnes Scott College

 

JSCOPE Undergraduate Panel

 

“Defining Just Pre-emption”

Cadet Cassandra Keyes, US Military Academy

 

“Anticipatory (Pre-emptive) Self-defense: The Need for a Modern Approach”

Cadet Sarah Champion, Royal Military College of Canada

 

“Hosting Terror: How the Presence of Terror Groups in a State Affects Interstate Relations”

Cadet Jacob M. Brady, US Military Academy

 

“Justified Preemption and Extreme Circumstances”

Cadet Ryan K. Stanley, Royal Military College of Canada

 

“The Anthropic Prohibition on Preemption”

Midshipman Kurt W. Albaugh, US Naval Academy

 

“Guidelines for Lasting Peace”

Cadet Tony Gregg, US Coast Guard Academy

 

“Ethics of Detention and Interrogation”

Lieutenant Colonel Tony Pfaff, US Army (paper to be read by Dr. Jeffrey Tiel)

 

“American Pre-emption and the Moral Prescriptions Within Trinitarian and Nontrinitarian War”

Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Scott Westhusing, US Military Academy (paper to be read by Major Mike Saxon)

 

“Military Ethicists’ Role in Preventing and Treating Perpetration-Induced Traumatic Syndrome (PITS) in Combat Veterans”

Major Pete Kilner, Pennsylvania State University

 

“Pragmatism and Preemption: Just War Theory May Not Be the Law, but It Is a Good Idea”

Adam Weinstein, North Broward Preparatory School

 

“Preventive Intervention”

Dr. Steven Lee, Hobart and William Smith Colleges

 

“Pre-emption and Just War: Considering the Case of Iraq”

Chaplain (Colonel) Franklin Eric Wester, US Army

 

“The Special (Moral) Circumstances of Preventive War”

Dr. Stephen E. Lammers, Lafayette College

 

“Humanitarian Intervention as a Pre-emptive Military Action:  Issues to be Addressed

Dr. Joanne K. Lekea, Hellenic Air Force Academy/University of Athens

 

“Reevaluating the Standing of Statehood in Evaluating Pre-emptive Wars”

Dr. Jeffrey Tiel, Ashland University

 

“You Say ‘Pre-Emptive’, I Say ‘Precipitive…”

Major Daniel Wetmore, US Air Force

 

 

JSCOPE Special Interest Section, Ethics and Intelligence

(Facilitated by the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs)

 

“Ethical Issues in Intelligence: A Practitioner's Perspective”

Major Troy S. Thomas, US Air Force, Joint Military Intelligence College/School of Advanced Warfare

 

“Ethics, Intelligence, and Democracy”

Reuben E. Brigity II, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Government & Politics, George Mason University

 

“The Ethics of Record Keeping in Intelligence”

Lawrence Rockwood, California State University at San Marcos & International Museum of Human Rights at San Diego

 

The Business Meeting

 

The members of the JSCOPE Executive Board for 2004-05 were:

 

Lieutenant Colonel Bill Rhodes (Ret), USAF Representative and Chairman

            HQ USAFA/DFPY

            2354 Fairchild Drive, Suite 6l37

            USAF Academy, CO 80840-6256

 

Colonel Daniel Zupan, USA Representative

            Department of English

            United States Military Academy

            West Point, NY 10996-1791

 

Dr. Fran Harbour, Civilian Representative

            Dept. of Public/Int’l Affairs

            George Mason University

            4400 University Drive

            Fairfax, VA 22030

 

LCDR Dale Bateman, USCG Representative

                        Department of Humanities (DH)

                        US Coast Guard Academy

                        New London, CT 06320

 

Captain Robert Schoultz, USN Representative

                        Director, Character Development

                        United States Naval Academy

                        117 Decatur Road

                        Annapolis, Maryland 21402

           

Colonel Jean-Luc Milot, Canadian Forces Representative

Director of Defence Ethics,

NDHQ CRS

MGen Pearkes Bldg

101 Colonel By drive

Ottawa Ontario Canada K1A OK2

 

Lieutenant Colonel Mike Campbell, USMC Representative

(LTC Campbell was recovering from surgery and was represented at the meeting by LTC John Rupp.)

            Ethics Center

            United States Naval Academy

            Annapolis, Maryland 21402

 

Bateman, Harbour, Rupp, and Zupan come up for reelection in 2006. 

 

The content of the meeting follows.

 

1.  We are very grateful to Dr. George Lucas who volunteered to be the Program Chair, replacing Dr. Carl Ficarrotta who stepped down after many years of unparalleled service. 

 

2.  The board members agreed to provide names of people from their institutions who will serve as referees for next year's JSCOPE submissions.

 

3.  The board agreed in principle to support in some way the APA's Committee on Public Philosophy.  The details have yet to be worked out.  Dr. Roger Wertheimer is our point of contact for this initiative.

 

4.  The board agreed to send out this year's ballot electronically sometime after the conclusion of the conference.  We felt it appropriate to do so in order to give us time to respond to JSCOPE participants' suggestions and capture those suggestions in the ballot.  Also, sending the ballot out electronically will allow everyone who paid to participate in JSCOPE 2005 to vote, even if other duties prevented their actually attending.

 

5.  The board agreed once again to review the status of JSCOPE; our status has been one of unincorporated association. 

 

6.  We agreed to seek a parent organization that could take on much of the administrative work of JSCOPE and would clearly establish JSCOPE as an academic conference.  Initial stipulations are:

            a.  The Executive Board and voting participants of JSCOPE would maintain control over the topic/content of the conference.

            b.  We will change the name of the conference to eliminate any references to the Joint Services, thus clearly indicating our non-DOD status.

            c.  The parent organization would finance the travel of the chairman whenever the chairman is not part of an institution that supports his or her travel.

 

7.  Many participants expressed a desire for more time to network at the conference.  In response, we will make Thursday's lunch  a 2-hour period.  We will look for other ways to provide more time for participants to meet each other and discuss the important issues of the day.  The board recognizes, that is, that much of the benefit of such conferences comes by way of informal discussion and establishing of friendships and contacts.

 

8.  Responding to concerns that the presentations became somewhat redundant, we have decided to change the format for next year's JSCOPE.  We will start with a plenary session on a primary theme as decided upon by ballot.  Subsequent breakout sessions will address that primary theme as well as other issues of interest to presenters.  Those other issues will likely reflect themes from the ballot that garnered a significant number of votes.

 

9.  We will accept panel proposals for JSCOPE 2006.  The general format will require each panel member to give a short -- 5 minute -- talk; the primary purpose of the panel will be to stimulate plenary discussion.

 

10.  In order to provide more time for discussion of presentations, we decided to limit each presenter to 15 minutes.  This will allow for much better question and answer interchange.

 

11.  The initial deadline for submissions will be 15 September 2005 for all categories.

 

Special Notes

We want to thank CAPT Bob Schoultz, Colonel Kenneth Strain, and Lieutenant Colonel Mike Campbell for all their hard work, insight, and professionalism while they served on the Executive Committee.  They did much to enhance this important conference.  We must offer a special note of gratitude to Dr. Carl Ficarrotta who has sustained this conference for many years as our program director.  He has been the driving force behind JSCOPE, and we shall miss his wit, intelligence, compassion, and professionalism.  Perhaps now, unburdened by the responsibilities of running the program, he will grace us with a presentation at an upcoming conference.  Thanks, Carl.

 

Submissions for JSCOPE 2006 must be submitted to grlucas@usna.edu; the forthcoming Call for Papers will indicate this new address and will provide new guidance for lengths of presentations.  We should, by that time, also know the dates.

 

Thanks to all those who made JSCOPE a success again this year.  We truly appreciate your commitment to furthering the dialogue about the ethics of our profession, a dialogue as important now as ever it has been.