EDITORIAL VISIÓN CONJUNTA . BIBLIOTECA CONJUNta CONTRIBUCIÓN ACADÉMICA VI RULES OF ENGAGEMENT A doctrine revisión as a manner to contribute to the promotion of standards of joint and joint- combined military interoperability. Rear Admiral (retired) Gustavo Adolfo Trama Major auditor of the Brazilian Army: Álvaro Ribeiro Mendonça Bachelor Sebastián Vigliero Content advisor: General (retired) Evergisto de Vergara Methodology advisor: PhD. Lucía Alejandra Destro Joint Staff College of the Armed Forces RULES OF ENGAGEMENT Joint Staff College Editorial Visión Conjunta BIBLIOTECA CONJUNTA DIRECTOR CY Gabriel A. Camilli Vice- director CN Fernando A. Dachary EditoriAL BOArd CR Alberto V. Aparicio CR Oscar A. Acosta CN Gastón F. Rigourd CM Juan C. Copetti CN Rodolfo E. Berazay Martínez TC Eduardo Pablo Garbini WritiNG AdviSor Eliana de Arrascaeta Editor AND owNer Joint Staff College of the Armed Forces Av. Luis María Campos 480, 2° piso, C1426BOP, City of Buenos Aires > www.esgcffaa.mil.ar Rear Admiral (retired) Gustavo Adolfo Trama Major Auditor of the Brazilian Army: Álvaro Ribeiro Mendonça Bachelor Sebastián Vigliero Content advisor: General (retired) Evergisto de Vergara Methodology advisor: PhD. Lucía Alejandra Destro RULES OF ENGAGEMENT A doctrine revisión as a manner to contribute to the promotion of standards of joint and joint- combined military interoperability. Joint Staff College of the Armed Forces Trama, Gustavo Rules of engagement : doctrine revision as a manner to contribute to the promotion of joint and joint : combined military interoperability standards / Gustavo Trama. - 1a ed . - Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires : Escuela Superior de Guerra Conjunta de las Fuerzas Armadas, 2020. Libro digital, PDF Archivo Digital: descarga y online Traducción de: Mariana Ríos Hudson. ISBN 978-987-47528-1-9 1. Defensa Nacional. I. Ríos Hudson, Mariana, trad. II. Título. CDD 355.033 Registration: 09/19/2016 ISBN: 978-987-29264-5-8 Deposit made pursuant to Law 11.723 Buenos Aires, September 2016 The Joint Staff College of the Armed Forces authorizes partial reproduction of thw work duly quoting its author. Ideas and opinions expressed in this book show only the opinion of their authors and are base don the principle of academic freedom of the Joint Staff College. They do not express the oficial position of the Government of the Argentine Republic, Ministry of Defense, Joint Staff, Staff of the Armed Forces or the Joint Staff College. The content of this book has been approved to be published. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT PROLOGUE oles that were assigned to military forces during the last years led to different discussions, among other political and doctrine aspects, about something that R was old and known, such as the use of weapons to impose their own will. Experience shows that it is necessary to plan a real or simulated operation in a war game, whether of combat or peace operations or even in cases of natural disaster, within or out of national territory, there appear aspects related to writing, training and implementation of “Rules of Engagement”, understood as the authorization, restriction and prohibition of the use of lethal power of weapons, a concept that later included the use of force in operations. The question how to apply force, against whom and to what extent is permanently asked. War is a political problem rather than a military problem. Because of the so- called globalization, distances have been reduced and armed forces of states have more international participation, whether in operations of war integrating alliances and coalitions, in peace operations under the mandate of the United States or in stability operations under regional organizations protection. This is true also within internal framework for humanitarian aid in cases of natural disasters or man- made disasters. Because of this, politics must exercise control over the use of force carried out by their armed forces because in these rules for the use of force, the intention of the country to contribute out of their territory and their government policies, both domestic and foreign, are clear. Throughout this work, we provide judgment criteria that show the need to have a catalog of permanent Rules of Engagement approved by political authorities, at least from a Ministry, in order to properly train troops and, therefore, prevent, during military operations, mistakes contrary to international law, diminish the possibility of collateral damage and prevent mistakes that may cause losses in their own force, which is called fratricide. This research is not only of military interest but it is also interesting for political authorities involved in the state conduction and national defense as the use of force of the armed element of the state in an integral part of the state. All democratic nations have promulgated clear rules that govern the use of lethal and non- lethal force by their armed forces. 5 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT First Part HISTORY, DEFINITION AND PURPOSES Concepts and Definitions Main Elements of a Definition Although Rules of Engagement are not a new phenomenon, it is interesting to highlight that when different authors try to define them, they normally tend to do so from the perspective that coincides with the purpose of their contributions, which may refer to multinational operations by international organizations or a group of a contributing country in particular or an operation conducted by a particular nation. But these definitions tend to be a simplification because when we thoroughly analyze the ROE systems of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union (EU) or the United Nations Organization (UNO), there appear critical differences among them, especially if a particular state has to draft them. In this sense, prior to defining their main elements, we need to determine what they are and what they are not. Therefore, we will start to mention existing definitions, establish differences and similarities that allow to increase knowledge of them. Joint Argentine Definition The PC 00- 2 publication project “Glossary of Terms of Military Use for Joint Military Action”1, of the year 2010, defines ROE as: Instructions established by the National Executive Power, which determine in a clear and precise manner criteria regarding the effective use of Military Instrument, in line with international and domestic law rules. These are an interrelation between national politics, law and requirements inherent to military operations. Publication PC 20- 04 “Planning for Joint Military Action in situations of crisis”2, 1988 Edition, established: b. Instructions for the development of operations. Rules of Engagement. Rules of Engagement are restrictions or subordination to the use of the military 1. Argentine Army, PC 00- 02 Glossary of Terms of Military Use for Joint Military Action, 2010 project. 2. Argentine Army, PC 20- 04 Planning for Joint Military Action in situations of crisis, 1988 Edition, Chapter II, section 2005 “Planning. Factors to be considered”. 7 Contraalmirante (RE) Gustavo A. Trama instrument imposed by the Military Strategic Level of decision in order to achieve the military goal set. The use of the military instrument in a Crisis Maneuver may cover a broad scope of alternatives for which it is necessary to achieve the objective desired by the decision political authority. Moreover, whenever the development of operations requires time, during which evolution of the situation is possible or faces the Commandant in charge with unforeseen events or options, it is necessary to establish Rules of Engagement. They must allow to standardize behaviors so that tasks carried out by forces may produce the effect expected by National Strategy. Rules of Engagement shall be coordinated and established by the National Strategic and Military Strategic levels of decision jointly in order to assure some uniform criteria. Rules of Engagement will usually be less restrictive as we move from a situation of mild tension to one in which legal aggression by adversary forces is possible. Rules of Engagement shall clearly include criteria with respect to self- defense of means engaged. Military authorities may draft rules of behavior for forces deployed which clearly and precisely establish instructions for the use of means and execution of operational maneuvers which, in response to the spirit of Rules of Engagement, may consider the different possible situations in the action scenario. The “Libro Blanco de la Defensa Nacional” [National Defense White Book]3, 1998 edition, defined them as: Particular instructions that military commandantsmust receive in order to limit in a precise and clear manner criteria related to the effective use of force. Moreover, it is also explained that these guidelines are especially necessary in the current strategic context as well as the context of conflict due to the different situations that may exist, apart from classical war. It is also added that: This need becomes more important during crisis, in order to prevent an undesired escalation; in situations of tension or, even more, when it is necessary to prevent such situations, which sometimes are caused by wrong mutual perceptions of actions and even attitudes that close military forces adopt, even those that are not intended. According to the same White Book: These particular instructions receive the international name of Rules of Engagement or Behavior4 and are given by competent authority and describe circumstances and restrictions under which forces will start or continue an armed engagement with other forces. They represent an interrelation between domestic politics; law and the very requirements of military operations. 3. Libro Blanco de la Defensa Nacional, Part V: “Conduction of Defense”, 3. “System Functioning: Decision and Acting Levels, 1998 edition, p. 104. 4. It is a mistake to consider the concept of Rules of Engagement as the same as Rules of Behavior. 8 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT They are particularly useful in diffuse situations of conflict and may come from the highest diplomatic- political level of the Nation and are then moved onto operations commands by military authorities in the proper operational terms.