Sen. Gillibrand and military justice

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand

The Watertown Daily Times has published this editorial concerning military justice provisions advocated by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand:

Given that her colleagues continually reject her ideas to reform our nation’s military justice system, U.S. Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand finds it necessary to work on a few items at a time. 

And she is having some success with this approach. The U.S. Senate last month passed several measures sponsored by Ms. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2017-18. 

“I’m disappointed that, once again, the Senate blocked a vote on my Military Justice Improvement Act, which would put the decision to try felony-level cases in the hands of trained military prosecutors. But I am pleased that the Senate has passed other reforms I fought for to improve our military justice system,” Ms. Gillibrand, the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee, said in a Sept. 19 news release. 

“With so many sexual assault crimes still happening in our military, from the Marines United photo scandal to the shamefully high rate of retaliation against military sexual assault survivors, it’s clear that we need to act urgently to pass and then implement these essential reforms. I was proud to fight for these improvements, and I will continue to do everything in my power to make sure our military has a justice system that is fair and professional.” 

According to her office’s news release, Ms. Gillibrand’s provisions are as follows: 

Cyber exploitation: There are no specific military or federal statutes addressing the electronic sharing of intimate images without consent, general cyberbullying or cyber exploitation that has the potential to affect our national security. Ms. Gillibrand’s provision would help close this gap and make it easier to hold these perpetrators accountable. This was prompted in part by an incident in which U.S. Marines, former Marines, other service members and civilians circulated illicit images of female service members and veterans. 

Litigation track for military justice professionalization: This legislation would create a career track for lawyers in each armed service in order to improve expertise within the military justice system. This would improve the quality of litigation expertise by requiring each branch of the military to implement a career litigation track that allows a portion of its lawyers to specialize in the foundation of U.S. military law and the Uniform Code of Military Justice for the bulk of their careers — an approach the U.S. Navy successfully adopted in 2007. 

E-STOP Act: The Educating Service Members in Training on Prevention Act would implement new educational steps to thwart sexual assault by mandating in-person, comprehensive sexual assault prevention training to newly enlisted service members before they depart for basic training, including proper use of social media. 

Appellate rights for victims: This legislation would pave the way for equal access to military appellate courts regarding victims’ rights. The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces has declined to hear petitions on victims’ rights issues, citing congressional intent, despite the fact that the NDAA for fiscal year 2015-16 provided for enforcement of certain crime victims’ rights by all courts of criminal appeals. Limiting access to appellate courts goes against the longstanding legal principle of due process. This bill allows both the accused and survivors a path for relief in the appellate court system.
These measures provide necessary reforms in specific areas of military justice. Ms. Gillibrand has confronted resistance to her ideas from officials in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill. Working on individual proposals may prove more effective in implementing crucial reforms. 

The NDAA is now in the conference committee for the U.S. House of Representatives. We urge legislators to ensure that Ms. Gillibrand’s proposals remain part of the overall bill.

If you were in Congress, what changes would you make to the system?