Spanning the last century alone, foreign mercenaries were employed in conflicts in Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, and Southeast Asia. Britain’s use of Hessian mercenaries in the American Revolutionary War is part of the country’s lore. convention as a non-national person acting to overthrow a government or undermine the constitutional order of that nation motivated by private gain or material compensation. Mercenaries have a long, controversial history in international conflict, reaching back at least 3,000 years to the Egyptian empire under Ramses II, and they were later frequently used by the Greek and Roman empires. Both weapons and combatants can pose a real and present danger to U.S. origin weapons for that reason, and the law should do the same for U.S.-origin combatants. The government regulates the export of U.S. national security interests as it can lead to local and regional instability. The uncontrolled supply of weapons to foreign end users is contrary to U.S. mercenary conduct as equivalent to the illegal supply of U.S. Having devoted years to national security prosecutions as a career federal prosecutor, I view U.S. An amendment to arms trafficking regulations might also be an effective and practical approach, as opposed to seeking to pass a new statute via Congress. export regulations to expand the definition of “defense services” to cover U.S.-based mercenaries. To address this hole in the law, the Biden administration should amend U.S. persons from selling their services as foreign fighters.
citizens should be free to join in foreign conflicts as a matter of personal choice or conviction (as many did during the Spanish Civil War, for instance), I’d submit that in light of broader national security interests, the United States should take affirmative action in restricting U.S. While an argument might be made that U.S. national security interests.Ĭountries around the globe (e.g., the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and South Africa) have domestic laws that restrict their citizens from serving as foreign mercenaries. Which raises the question: Should it be legal for U.S citizens to provide services as a paramilitary fighter against a foreign country? After all, this type of dangerous work is often contrary to U.S. This statute, however, prohibits only acts carried out “within the Unites States” as part of a military expedition against a friendly country. mercenaries might be found in the Neutrality Act (18 U.S.C. citizen to provide combat services as a foreign mercenary fighter. Under current laws and regulations, it is not illegal for a U.S. If the two Americans arrested in Moise’s assassination are found guilty, they will have clearly broken Haitian law. citizens, though the parties primarily responsible for this assassination - and the precise motive - currently remain under investigation. Haitian authorities have made a number of arrests in connection with this event, including of two U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents, were well-trained, organized, and appear to have received significant financing for the assassination. The assailants, reportedly dressed as U.S. Early in the morning of July 7, 2021, a heavily armed group entered the home of Haitian President Jovenel Moise and killed him in his bedroom.