Charles H. Stockton

Professor Michael Schmitt of the University of Reading’s School of Law has been named the Charles H. Stockton Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the United States Naval War College. The position is named after Admiral Charles Stockton, who wrote the US Navy’s first Code of Naval Warfare, served twice as the President of the Naval War College around the turn of the last century, and became President of George Washington University following his retirement from military service.

The Naval War College has a long tradition of visiting distinguished scholars. The have included Harvard’s Professor Manley Hudson, who was a Judge on the Permanent Court of Justice from 1936 until its dissolution and for whom the American Society of International Law’s Hudson Medal is named, the great legal theorist Professor Hans Kelsen, former President of Tel Aviv University Professor Yoram Dinstein, and many other giants in the field of public international law.  Professor Schmitt’s appointment is particularly appropriate. He graduated “first in class” from the Naval War College as a US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel in 1996. In 2007-2008 he returned as a visiting professor, and from 2011-2019 he served as Chairman of the Naval War College’s International Law Department.

The oldest such institution in the world, the Naval War College was established in 1884. Senior officers and government officials from the United States and many other nations attend the year-long course of study in national security policy and strategic studies. The College is also renowned for its research on international security matters and for complex wargaming.

In addition to this position, Professor Schmitt is the Francis Lieber Distinguished Scholar at West Point, a Strauss Center Distinguished Scholar at the University of Texas, and a Senior Fellow at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence.