VMI in the news, again

Ian Shapira of the Washington Post reports here on allegations of hazing -- or was it waterboarding? -- at the Virginia Military Institute, and related civil litigation in the courts of the Old Dominion.

Not great for recruitment, one might think. Read down in the story for General George C. Marshall's near miss. Ouch.

$4 million to be spent on a second courtroom at GTMO

Carol Rosenberg of The New York Times does it again with this end-of-year article about the new courtroom being built at Guantánamo. "It is the latest retreat from transparency in the already secretive national security cases at the base, where the military and intelligence agencies have been restricting what the public can see. That includes forbidding photography of sites that were once routinely shown to visitors and declaring both populated and emptied wartime prison facilities off limits to reporters." Our view: a complete waste of $4,000,000.

Trouble in Dublin

Charges and countercharges have been flying within the Irish Defence Forces, culminating most recently in the transfer of Colonel Jerry Lane, who had been Director of Legal Services. Click here for an Irish Times summary. Excerpt:

It is understood much of the disquiet in the legal services section relates to the issuing of a General Routine Order (GRO) in 2019.

The GRO, which was signed by then Maj Gen [Seán] Clancy, granted additional powers to Col Lane, including granting him supervisory powers over disciplinary actions against troops and giving him the power to appoint prosecuting officers.

Concerns were raised within the Defence Forces that the GRO was in conflict with legislation and the matter was referred to the Attorney General’s office.

In an unusual move, the GRO was then revoked by Minister for Defence Simon Coveney in February of this year, according to documents seen by The Irish Times.

And that's just part of it. 

More from Maurer

Lieutenant Colonel (and professor) Dan Maurer of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point has posted this measured personal-views-only essay on Lawfare describing what the NDAA for FY22 does and does not do to military justice. It is must reading for Town Hall 23 on January 10 -- to which readers of Global Military Justice Reform are cordially invited. Excerpt:

In sum, the most significant changes wrought by the 2022 NDAA only shift the burden of prosecutorial judgment from certain flag officers in command to actual experienced and specialized prosecutors, who also happen to be in uniform and who swear the same oath to protect and defend the Constitution. These judge advocates, in addition, may consider the advice and recommendations of those very commanders whose troops were impacted, one way or another, by a certain limited menu of offenses they no longer have the discretion to address personally. Finally, the transfer of this burden is a foreseeable next step along the decades-long arc of “de-militarizing” military justice, not just in the U. S. but all over the world. This civilianization has happened in all the key and essential matters of due process and civil rights enjoyed by civilians facing criminal charges and punishment by the state. There is little reason to think that this arc will not continue. As this post reveals, there remains a host of prosecutorial and judicial-like powers that may, ultimately, cede to uniformed lawyers or civilian courts. This NDAA reform—as compromise-ridden as the final bill ultimately became—proves that the executive branch has not yet justified sufficiently the continuing relevance and necessity of these powers on principled grounds, to the satisfaction of Congress.

Mazal tov

Congratulations to three new NIMJ directors: GWU Professor Laura Dickinson and retired U.S. Air Force JAG Colonels Don Christensen and Jim Young. Don is president of Protect Our Defenders.