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Bar News - November 22, 2002 Saluting Bar Members on Active Duty Bar Members in the Military - Part 2 Editor’s Note: We corresponded via e-mail with Bar members on active duty in the military, who were appreciative of the opportunity to communicate with their colleagues in the Bar about their lives and the kind of work they do. The following is the concluding part of the series. These accounts are the personal opinions of the authors and do not represent the official views of any branch of the armed services. ‘Active Duty’ Retiree Advising US Forces in South Korea Air Force Col. Thomas Tudor was assigned to the Pentagon as the Air Force’s chief of international and operations law at the time of the 9/11 attacks. Although his office was only about 500 yards from the point of impact of the attack there, he was on assignment in Seoul, South Korea, preparing for a flight to Taipei. Overseeing a staff of 17, Tudor oversaw analysis and reporting on such topics as: the law of aerial warfare; status of forces agreements; negotiation and conclusion of international agreements; war crimes and aerospace operations; peace operations; space law; national security strategy; intelligence oversight; nuclear weapons policy; rules of engagement; multinational air operations; noncombatant evacuation operations; aerospace accident investigations; antiterrorism and force protection; civilian personnel supporting military operations; code of conduct; cooperation with domestic civilian authorities; media relations; personnel claims; political asylum; and temporary refuge – just to name a very few! The 9/11 attacks mobilized Tudor and some hastily recruited colleagues to deal with a whole new set of issues. The US military scrambled to consider a new set of contingencies as President Bush, in the aftermath of the attacks, considered potential responses. "Many of the issues were new and potentially tied to political decisions yet to be made," Tudor wrote to Bar News. "This was especially true of legal status [of terrorism suspects]. Nobody was sure what position the US would take on some of the finer aspects. A team of 18 of us (nine of whom were reservists from the State Department, DOJ, DOT, and even a patent attorney - all immediate volunteers) worked on this product day and night while the US was gearing up for the counterattack." Tudor has since retired from active duty, but continues to work for the military as a civilian lawyer for the Army in Korea with US forces. "It’s essentially the same as an active duty position in that I’m issued a Geneva Convention card and chem warfare gear," he wrote. This article incorporates comments made by Tudor that appeared in The Taft Bulletin, the alumni publication of the Taft School, Watertown, Conn. The comments are used with permission of Tudor and the Taft School. Defending Against the Evolving Area of ‘Computer Network Attacks’ I am currently the deputy director of legal affairs at NATO Supreme Allied Command, Atlantic, in Norfolk, Virginia. The job is varied, similar in nature to that of a corporate counsel. I currently do a lot of work with the rewrite of the NATO Rules of Engagement (on use of force). We are contemplating adding an annex on the law of armed conflict, and some procedures for the evolving military warfare area of "Information Operations," which involves a lot of new technologies that weren’t contemplated when international law was being developed. The most difficult area is the use of force through what is generally referred to as a "computer network attack." Prior to this job, I was the legal advisor for the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Information Warfare Center, where I dealt with all these new technologies, including intelligence law and computer network defense. Defending networks, I found, involves the wiretap statute, electronic communications privacy act and intelligence oversight rules. That was interesting work. I have found the practice of law in the military to fit my personality very well. About every three years, I’m in a new location, with a new boss and generally a new legal discipline to learn; nevertheless, I think it would have been nice to be settled into a community for a long period of time, with church, family and friends. I’ve kept in close contact with some of my law school classmates and, in particular, with many of the lawyers I met on active duty who decided to leave for civilian practice at the end of their initial commitments. Human nature tends toward viewing your neighbor’s grass as greener than your own (or whatever that old saying is). That is, just as I think I might have missed something by not having a more settled life, others think they may have missed something by not having joined the military or stayed in the Navy and traveled. My recommendation is that more young lawyers should seriously consider beginning their practice with a few years on active duty, regardless of long-term plans for the practice of law.
Considering the Military’s Role in Homeland Defense I appreciate the attention the NH Bar Association has given to those serving on active duty in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Noble Eagle. I have been serving for the past 12 months with Joint Force Headquarters - Homeland Security (JFHQ-HLS), US Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) now aligned under US Northern Command, in Norfolk, Va. Our organization has been given a broad and demanding mission by our nation’s leadership. Shortly after 9/11, we were established as a provisional headquarters at USJFCOM and tasked with providing department of defense support to Homeland Security. We have been responsible for coordinating military support for homeland security missions, to include the Winter Olympics and most recently the serial sniper attacks around our capital. Lt. Col. Bailey, admitted to the NHBA in 1999, was inadvertently omitted from the list of Bar members on active duty published in the Nov. 8 issue of Bar News. Also, omitted from the list of National Guard officers was 1st Lt.Christine Tebbetts. We apologize in advance for other potential omissions. If you have not revised your member status, contact Member Records Coordinator Anna O’Neill at aoneill@nhbar.org.
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