LTC(P) Ronald Alcala

LTC Ronald Alcala is an associate professor in the Department of Law & Philosophy and associate dean for strategy and initiatives on the dean's staff at the United States Military Academy (USMA). He also is executive editor of the West Point Press and the Articles of War, as well as affiliated with the Lieber Institute for Law & Warfare.

Before joining the faculty, Alcala served as a judge advocate in various legal positions advising commanders on criminal law, international law, and administrative law issues. He is co-editor of "The Impact of Emerging Technologies on the Law of Armed Conflict" (Oxford University Press, 2019) and is an elected member of the Executive Committee of the American Society of International Law’s law of armed conflict interest group. 

Past military assignments include deputy staff judge advocate, Special Operations Command Europe; chief, Rule of Law, Multinational Division Center, Baghdad, Iraq; and trial counsel, Task Force Spartan and 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Alcala is a recipient of NATO’s Serge Lazareff Prize for excellence in legal services and the American Society of International Law’s 2023 Richard R. Baxter Military Prize for scholarship on the law of war. He is also a Senior Military Fellow at the Lieber Institute for Law and Warfare.

Alcala earned a bachelor's degree in history and classics from Williams College and a J.D. from George Washington University Law School. He holds a master's degree in law and diplomacy from Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and a specialized master's degree in military law from the Judge Advocate General’s School in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

He is admitted to practice in the State of New Jersey and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and the U.S. Supreme Court.