Erik Prince, founder and CEO of the controversial private military contracting company, Blackwater, has proposed regularizing the use of "mercenary" forces by the United States. Meanwhile, a secretive organization known as the Wagner Group, with alleged ties to the Russian regime, has already been implicated in conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, Sudan, and Venezuela. Other military contractors perform less controversial defensive security functions in conflict zones. Are the activities of such organizations lawful? What legal and other mechanisms exist to regulate such operations and hold violators of humanitarian and human rights law accountable? What gaps in law need to be filled?

Panel also included: Katherine Gallagher, Katherine Gorove, and Molly Gray