The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is an international treaty that governs the use of the world's oceans. On November 16, 1994, after obtaining the required sixty signatures, the Law of the Sea Treaty became international law. Today, 143 countries are part of UNCLOS. However, the United States is not one of them for many reasons. In 1993, the Department of Defense provided an Ocean Policy Review document on "the currency and adequacy of U.S. ocean policy, from a strategic perspective, to support the National Defense Strategy." which established that U.S. national security interests in the oceans have been protected even though the United States is not a member of UNCLOS (USDOD 76-94). United States practices over the past 300 years have created the very common law of the sea that forms the basis of the navigation provisions of UNCLOS. It is therefore not fair to say that the United States could benefit from the navigation provisions of the convention if it accedes to it (Groves). The United States protects its navigation rights by diplomatically protesting the naval assertions of other nations and by conducting operational activities with the United States. US naval forces to combat these claims. Even before the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982, the United States had ordered protests and conducted naval actions to combat other nations' nautical claims (Roach 7-8). If the United States were to join the convention, it would result in a dangerous and permanent loss of American power. This would require the U.S. Treasury to send tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars to a particular international organization in Jamaica. Then this organization is authorized to redistribute these US dollars to countries with in the middle of paper...... that the United States does not need to accomplish universal international recognition of its ECS to provide confidence in oil drilling and refining companies (Groves)UNCLOS is a convention set up to help protect the world's oceans. However, there are many types of corruption that would harm America if it joined the convention. The United States would have to pay a significant sum for the alleged pollution this may have caused. The United States would also have to pay royalties to the ISA on revenues from its oil exploration on the continental shelf. Furthermore, the use of UNCLOS would seem to us to be unnecessary for navigation rights, because America has in fact created the very routine of the law of the sea in matters of navigation. If America were to join UNCLOS, it would be a waste of time and money and only the American people could do it..