Event: the U.S. Naval Academy

The first time I heard about just war theory was in my military ethics class. As midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy, we understood that our nation expected more from us than just tactical excellence; it theoretically charged us to be the custodians of peace and justice—to wage war morally and ethically. Many years later, after several operational tours and witnessing a close friend take his life following direct engagement with autonomous drone warfare, I know that those classes at the Naval Academy were not simply outdated; they were practically inconsequential, tacked on to a curriculum rather than comprising the ethos behind all that we did. The fault for this lies not with our nation’s service academies, but with just war theory’s failure to keep pace with modern warfare. In his recent encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, Leo XIV states that, “Today, more than ever, without prejudice to the right to self-defense in the strictest sense, it is important to reaffirm that the ‘just war’ theory, which has all too often been used to justify any kind of war, is now outdated.” Within the context of the encyclical, it is clear that Leo is not dismissing just war theory. Rather, he notes that “in the time of artificial intelligence,” some of its presuppositions must be retooled to engage this “fourth industrial revolution.” He states: “The Holy See has recently observed that the growing ease with which autonomous weapons systems can be deployed makes war more ‘feasible’ and less subject to human control. This violates the principle that armed force should be used only as a last resort in cases of legitimate self-defense.” Our task is not to develop a new theory of just peace or just resolution to conflict, but to update just war theory in light of this new era, rejecting…