DoD Law of War Manual updated today. Not sure what it means but interesting…
(lieber.westpoint.edu)
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Biden signed an executive order changed the Uniform Code of Military Justice on Friday.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/07/28/fact-sheet-president-biden-to-sign-executive-order-implementing-bipartisan-military-justice-reforms/
Taking UCMJ prosecutorial discretion out of the hands of commanders, sounds like a complete disaster. The military has privatized and outsourced everything else, so why not the legal system. Lowest bidder gets the contract.
They are not outsourcing this, they are setting a new office called Offices of Special Trial Counsel It will still be military prosecutors.
The webpage for the OSTC is up and they have begun staffing it. Changes go into effect Jan 1.
Roger that, poor choice of words on my part, while it may not be outsourced in the traditional sense bottom line they are taking the responsibility and authority away from commanders. I think anyone who has served as a commander and administered UCMJ will understand my intent and the negative impact on the unit when a commander’s authority is removed.
So, it's probably going to take significantly longer than X more weeks (fill in the X).
The executive order is based on a Law Congress passed in 2022. Part of the military funding bill. The Pentagon opposed these changes at first, but eventually supported them. I think Jan 1 was in the Bill.
Anytime there is a change to the UCMJ, the changes are always published before they go into effect, because then everyone needs to be trained starting with the JAG corp.