James Kraska
James Kraska
Visiting Professor of Law and John Harvey Gregory Lecturer on World Organization
Spring 2021
Biography
James Kraska is Chair and Charles H. Stockton Professor of International Maritime Law in the Stockton Center for International Law at the U.S. Naval War College, where he is a tenured full professor. He is also a Visiting Professor of Law and John Harvey Gregory Lecturer on World Organization at Harvard Law School, where he teaches International Law of the Sea.
He is also Distinguished Fellow at the Law of the Sea Institute, University of California Berkeley School of Law, a Permanent Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. representative to the International Group of Experts for the San Remo Manual on the Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea, produced by the International Institute of Humanitarian Law. Previously, he was a Visiting Professor of Law at the University of the Philippines College of Law, Honorary Visiting Professor of Law at Gujarat National Law University in Ahmedabad, India, Mary Derrickson McCurdy Visiting Scholar at Duke University Marine Laboratory in the Nicholas School of the Environment, and a Office of the Chief of Naval Research Fellow in residence at the Marine Policy Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Professor Kraska has written numerous scholarly articles and books, including Maritime Power and Law of the Sea (Oxford), which won the Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Literary Achievement and co-authored The Free Sea: The American Fight for Freedom of Navigation (USNI). He is co-authoring Emerging Technology and the Law of Naval Warfare (forthcoming Oxford) and is a contributing editor to Emerging Technology and the Law of the Sea (forthcoming Cambridge). Professor Kraska served as a U.S. Navy officer and lawyer, including with operational forces in the Indo-Pacific region, and as Oceans Law & Policy Adviser and then Director of International Negotiations Division, The Joint Staff. He earned a professional doctorate in law from Indiana University and a research doctorate in law from University of Virginia.
Areas of Interest
- International Law
- National Security Law
Academic Appointment and Employment History
- Howard S. Levie Chair, Professor, Stockton Center for the Study of International Law, U.S. Naval War College (2014 - Present)
- Professor of Law, Stockton Center for the Study of International Law, U.S. Naval War College (2008 - 2013)
- Mary Derrickson McCurdy Visiting Scholar, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University (2013 - 2014)
- Oceans Law and Policy Adviser, Joint Staff, Pentagon (2005 - 2007)
- Deputy Chief of Naval Ops for Plans, Policy & Ops, Pentagon (2002 - 2005)
- Deputy Legal Adviser, Pentagon (2002 - 2005)
- International Law Adviser, Office of the Navy Judge Advocate General, Pentagon (2001 - 2002)
- Legal Adviser, Expeditionary Strike Group Seven/Task Force 76, Japan (1999 - 2001)
- Criminal Trial Litigator, U.S. Naval Legal Service Office, Japan (1993 - 1996)
- Legal Adviser, Dep’t of Defense Joint Interagency Task Force West (1996 - 1999)
- Post-Doctoral Fellow, Marine Policy Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (1992 - 1993)
Education History
- B.A. Mississippi State University,
- M.A. International Studies Claremont Graduate University,
- J.D. Indiana University Bloomington Maurer School of Law,
- LL.M. University of Virginia School of Law,
- S.J.D. University of Virginia School of Law,