Washington Post report on Sen. Graham's military career

The Washington Post's Craig Whitlock has written this lengthy and devastating article on the military career of Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who is an announced candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Excerpt:

Graham is running as a ­national-security hawk, calling himself a “battle-tested leader” with “a lifetime of military service.” Images of him wearing camouflage in the field are a common thread in his campaign. 

But a detailed examination of Graham’s military record — much of it obtained under the Freedom of Information Act — shows that the Air Force afforded him special treatment as a lawmaker, granting him the privileges of rank with few expectations in return.

During his first decade in Congress, the Air Force promoted Graham twice even though documents in his military personnel file reveal that he did little or no work. Later, the Pentagon gave the military lawyer a job assignment in the Air Force Reserve that he highlighted in his biography for several years but never performed.

The article refers to a case in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces held that Sen. Graham could not serve simultaneously in the Senate and as a judge of the U.S. Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals under the Incompatibility Clause of the Constitution. The case is United States v. Lane, 61 M.J. 1 (C.A.A.F. 2006).