Tim Boyle

Commander Tim Boyle is a U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps officer currently serving as Fleet Judge Advocate for U.S. Seventh Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan. He previously served as Chief of National Security Law at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, where he conceived and implemented the U.S. military’s first counter-lawfare program. In his current assignment, he developed the U.S. Navy’s first fleet-level counter-lawfare program. 

Commander Boyle has served in a range of operational and strategic legal billets, including with U.S. Fifth Fleet, U.S. Fourth Fleet, U.S. Naval Activities Spain, and Naval Special Warfare Development Group. He has served overseas for nearly a decade and deployed in support of combat operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen. 

In recognition of his service and scholarship, he was named U.S. Special Operations Command’s top legal advisor to special operations forces in 2015, received NATO’s Serge Lazareff Prize for his counter-lawfare work in 2023, and earned the Asia-Pacific Studies Prize from the U.S. Naval War College in 2025. His writing on Indo-Pacific security and lawfare has appeared in War on the Rocks, Articles of War, Just Security, and Small Wars Journal, among other publications. He holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Miami and postgraduate degrees from the University of Virginia and the U.S. Naval War College. 

Commander Boyle participates in the Arizona State University International Lawfare and Security Program in his personal capacity. His views do not represent the official policy or position of the U.S. Navy, the Department of War, or the U.S. Government.