Staff Judge Advocate’s Office

The Staff Judge Advocate’s (SJA) Office, in coordination with the Office of Government Counsel (OGC) attorney, provides legal services and advice to the U.S. Naval War College (NWC). Additionally, the SJA as the designated ethics counselor for the command provides ethical guidance to command members. NWC lawyers may provide advice to personnel at lower Echelons when other offices are unable to provide legal support. The SJA’s Office also processes Freedom of Information Act (FOIA - 5 U.S.C. § 552) and Privacy Act (PA - 5 U.S.C. § 552a) requests for NWC records.

USNWC SJA Office

For a complete listing of legal services provided and office locations, please utilize the Legal Assistance Office Locator.

How to Submit a FOIA or PA Request

FOIA requests may be submitted online using FOIAonline, the multi-agency FOIA Online tool.

We encourage you to create a requester account in order to use FOIAonline most effectively. You need not create an account to make requests, but doing so will give you access to more features, including a record of your requests and a repository for records we release to you.

In order to direct your requests directly to the U.S. Naval War College, select "Department of the Navy" in the drop-down menu "Agency Selection" list. After selecting "United States Navy" from the sub-agency drop-down menu that appears next, scroll down to "U.S. Naval War College" in the third drop-down agency selection menu.

Mail your request to:

U.S. Naval War College
ATTN: Legal Office FOIA Officer
686 Cushing Rd,
Newport, RI 02841

All FOIA and/or PA requests must be in writing and include the following information:

  1. Your name, complete mailing address, and telephone number.
    If you send the request by postal mail, consider including an email address that we may use to contact you with any questions we may have about your request.
  2. A statement that you are making a FOIA and/or PA request.
    In general, you make a PA request to ask for records about yourself (Example: "A copy of all reports of investigations in which I was a complainant or a named subject") and you make a FOIA request for records about others. However, whichever type of request you make, we will consider both the FOIA and the PA in determining how to respond and will provide you with the most amount of information that we may release to you under either statute.
  3. A reasonable description of the specific record you seek that is sufficient to enable the Staff Judge Advocate's Office to identify the record. If you were a Complainant, Subject, or Witness in an investigation, please identify the time frame and the general subject matter of the investigation.
  4. A statement that you agree to pay fees associated with the release of the record you are requesting, or a request that we waive fees.
    Note: You may limit the amount of money you are willing to pay without further consultation. (Example: "I agree to pay up to $25.  If the fees will exceed $25 please provide me with an estimate of the fees before processing my request").