Posted by David L. Perry on March 29, 2026:

Although I never met Prof. Hartle, I was very sorry to learn of his passing, because I regard his book Moral Issues in Military Decision Making to be among the very best books on professional military ethics, especially in the American context. I assigned portions of that book in lessons that I created while teaching at the U.S. Army War College 2003-2009 as Associate Professor of Ethics. His arguments also influenced my own book, Partly Cloudy: Ethics in War, Espionage, Covert Action, and Interrogation. And even now I value his emphasis on the importance of military personnel and their civilian bosses to respect and uphold the Geneva Conventions and other international treaties that have been signed by a president and approved by the Senate, as our Constitution mandates. We badly need Hartle's wisdom today, facing an appalling lack of ethical leadership under Trump and Hegseth.

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