Can a commander prevent pretrial investigation by defense counsel?

JAG Corps lawyers and civilian military justice practitioners in the United States have been in an uproar about a later-rescinded order that defense counsel in an Army case not interview witnesses until government investigators are finished. Details appear in this article in Stars & Stripes:

According to documents filed in court, the April 3 cease-and-desist order prevented Lt. Col. Jay Morse, former chief of the Trial Counsel Assistance Program, as well as his defense counsel, from speaking to any potential witness. Several military legal experts told Stars and Stripes they’d never seen an order like it before.

 The debate and links to key documents appear here.