NATIONAL SECURITY AM THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA
Second Edition
January 1996
Executive Summary
This position paper analyzes the Department of Defense's interests in having the United States become a party to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Convention), as modified by the Part XI Implementation Agreement (Agreement). This new Agreement corrects the flaws in the deep seabed mining regime set out in the Convention that were first articulated by President Reagan in 1982.
Following adoption of the Agreement by the United Nations General Assembly in 1994, the United States became a signatory, paving the way for this country to become a party both to the Convention and the Agreement. The President transmitted the Convention and the Agreement to the United States Senate for its advice and consent to accession and ratification, respectively, on October 7, 1994.
Our principal judgment is that U.S. national security and public order of the oceans are best maintained by a universally accepted law of the sea treaty. Reliance upon customary international law rather than the modified Convention will serve our interests much less effectively, and could result in the United States placing its armed forces in harm's way because these customary principles of law are not universally understood or accepted. The Convention is the best way to reduce the likelihood of situations in which U.S. forces must be used to assert navigational freedoms, as well as the best method of fostering the use of various conflict avoidance schemes which are contained in the Convention.
The Convention, as modified, may not represent an ultimate solution to all oceans policy issues, nor was it intended as such. However, the accomodations embodied in the Agreement and the Convention as a whole, establish an ocean regulatory regime that is clearly in the national security interest of the United States. We now have before us a rare window of opportunity to resolve favorably the vital navigation and other issues, including deep seabed mining, which are addressed by the Convention.
The Department of Defense's key conclusions are:
* Access to the oceans throughout the world, including areas off foreign coasts at great distances from the United States, is vital to U.S. security and economic interests in global navigation, overflight and telecommunications. These interests are best served
