Abstract/Summary

This chapter discusses how the law is implemented by armed forces during “targeting,” the process by which individuals and objects are systematically analyzed and prioritized for potential engagement. Centered on an examination of the United States’ “Joint Targeting Cycle,” a construct broadly shared by many other states and organizations, such as NATO, it explains how international humanitarian law concepts are given practical effect during armed conflict. The analysis then proceeds to explore the nuances of targeting in different operational domains: air, land, sea, and cyber. While achieving broadly the same set of legal functions, practice has developed to reflect the different means and methods of warfare in each particular environment. The chapter concludes by extending the discussion to targeting in a coalition context, in which processes and procedures are required to account for legal differences between partners, while minimizing the detrimental effect on operations in order to achieve “legal interoperability.”