International Law and Armed Conflict: Concise Edition

Dr. Gregory P. Noone, Ph.D., J.D., is the Director of the Fairmont State University National Security and Intelligence Program and an Associate Professor of Political Science and Law. Dr. Noone was selected as the 2012 West Virginia Professor of the Year.

He is a member of the Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG, which was nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize) where he has conducted justice system assessments in Uganda and Côte d’Ivoire, as well as provided assistance in post-Gaddafi Libya and to the Syrian opposition regarding transitional justice. Dr. Noone was also part of the international effort investigating the Myanmar government’s atrocities committed against their Rohingya population. He worked as an investigator in the refugee camps in Bangladesh and as one of the legal experts on the report’s findings.

Dr. Noone also worked for the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), an independent, nonpartisan federal institution created by the U.S. Congress to promote research, education, and training on the prevention, management, and peaceful resolution of international conflicts. While at USIP, Noone received a Special Act Award for his work in Afghanistan.

Dr. Noone previously served as an active duty judge advocate in the U.S. Navy. He held various positions in the Navy, including the Head of the International Law Branch and the Foreign Military Rights Affairs Branch in the Navy Judge Advocate General’s International and Operational Law Division at the Pentagon. Dr. Noone also served at the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies (DIILS), where he trained senior military, governmental, and non-governmental civilian personnel in the Law of Armed Conflict, Human Rights, and other international law topics, in over sixty countries (and has been to 93 countries). Most notably, he has trained members of the Iraqi National Congress, the post-genocide government in Rwanda, the post-Taliban government in Afghanistan, civil society in Sudan, and senior members of the Russian government. Dr. Noone has also worked as a government prosecutor and criminal defense counsel.

He is a Brockton, Massachusetts native who received a B.A. in Political Science from Villanova University, an M.A. in International Affairs from The Catholic University of America, an M.D.S. (Master of Defence Studies) from The Royal Military College of Canada, a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School, and a Ph.D. in Political Science (International Relations) from West Virginia University.

Dr. Noone is a Captain in the United States Naval Reserve and has served as the Commanding Officer of the Navy JAG International and Operational Law reserve unit as well as the Commanding Officer of the DIILS reserve unit. In 2009-2010, Dr. Noone was mobilized as the Staff Judge Advocate for the Office for Administrative Review and Detention of Enemy Combatants (OARDEC) at the Pentagon and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Dr. Noone is a graduate of the Canadian Forces College’s Joint Command and Staff Programme (JRCSP 12 and JCSP 36).

In 2012, Dr. Noone was appointed by the United Nations to an Independent Experts Panel to review the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight. Dr. Noone is also an adjunct Professor of Law at Roger Williams University School of Law and Case Western Reserve University School of Law where he has taught International Law, Genocide and Atrocity Crimes, International Humanitarian Law, Terrorism, and U.S. Military Law and Legal Policies. He has published and presented articles on the Rwandan Genocide, the Law of Armed Conflict, the International Criminal Court, and Military Tribunals at numerous forums. Dr. Noone appears regularly as a commentator on international and national TV and radio.