LTC(P) Ronald Alcala Associate Professor Associate Dean for Strategy and Initiatives Dean's Staff Law and Philosophy Lieber Institute for Law & Warfare ronald.alcala [at] westpoint.edu About Education Research & Publications Ronald Alcala is a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army. He is an Academy Professor and Associate Dean for Strategy & Initiatives at the United States Military Academy, West Point. He also serves as Executive Editor of the West Point Press and Executive Editor of Articles of War.Before joining the faculty, Lieutenant Colonel 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. His past 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. Lieutenant Colonel 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 Senior Military Fellow at the Lieber Institute for Law and Warfare.Lieutenant Colonel Alcala earned a B.A. in History and Classics from Williams College and a J.D. from the George Washington University Law School. He holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and an LL.M. in Military Law from the Judge Advocate General’s School in Charlottesville, Va. He is admitted to practice in the State of New Jersey and before the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and the United States Supreme Court. LL.M. - The Judge Advocate General's SchoolJ.D. - George Washington University Law SchoolMALD - Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts University)B.A. - Williams College Research Interests Law of Armed Conflict, International Law, Cultural Heritage Selected Publications Alcala, R. (2024). The Exceptional Dead: Human Remains as Property, Non-Property, and Cultural Property in Armed Conflict. American University Law Review, 74(2), 315-365. Alcala, R., & Nasu, H. (2024). The Protection of Nationals Abroad and Non-Combatant Evacuation Operations in Times of Crisis. Journal of National Security Law & Policy, 14(1), 1-28. Alcala, R. (2023). Field-Modified Weapons under the Law of War. Articles of War. Alcala, R. (2022). Cultural Evolution: Protecting “Digital Cultural Property” in Armed Conflict. International Review of the Red Cross, 104(919), 1083-1119. Alcala, R. (2021). Opinio Juris and the Essential Role of States. Articles of War. Alcala, R. (2019). Rule of Law and Human Rights in Military Stability Operations: Clarifying the Military’s Role in Rule of Law Development. Department of Justice Journal of Federal Law & Practice, 67(1), 211-228. Reeves, S., & Alcala, R. (2019). Five Legal Takeaways from the Syrian War. Harvard National Security Journal (online). Reeves, S., Alcala, R., & Gregory, E. (2019). Fake News! China is a Rule-of-Law Nation and Respects International Law. Harvard International Review 39(4), 42-46. Jensen, E.T., & Alcala, R. (Eds.) (2019). The Impact of Emerging Technologies on the Law of Armed Conflict. Oxford University Press. Reeves, S., & Alcala, R. (2017). Federal Court Vacancies Are a Crisis. Military Judges Are the Solution. Foreign Policy (online). Alcala, R. (2015). Babylon Revisited: Reestablishing a Corps of Specialists for the Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict. Harvard National Security Journal, 6(1), 206-254.