Army of Lies: Ethical Considerations of Deceiving Civilians in War

Abstract

This thesis explores the ethical permissibility of deceiving civilians during military operations, primarily military deception operations. It examines this issue using both consequential and non-consequential frameworks and explores how the potential ethics of deceiving civilians interacts with current just war theory, the doctrine of double effect, and non-combatant immunity. These common ethical frameworks are used to develop a method for evaluating the ethical considerations of deceiving civilians in war. This method is then applied to a case study involving deception of civilians in Syria. Weighing those considerations in a real-world scenario provides information on how these types of deceptions measure up morally both in theory and practice. Ultimately, a recommendation on the probable morality of any future deception of civilians is determined.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2020
Accession Number
AD1127057

Entities

People

  • Matthew Rogers

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • California
  • Case Studies
  • Department Of Defense
  • Doctrine
  • Governments
  • Health Services
  • Information Operations
  • Literature
  • Medical Personnel
  • Mental Health
  • Military Commanders
  • Military History
  • Military Operations
  • Military Organizations
  • Nonlethal Weapons
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychological Operations
  • Standards
  • Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • United States
  • Urban Areas
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military Leadership and Professional Education.
  • Sensor Fusion and Tracking Systems.
  • Systems Analysis and Design