Category: Firm News
“Disgraced” Naval Officers May Get To Keep Their Pensions
The Washington Post reports that the high-level Navy admirals and other officers accused of violating laws in the “Fat Leonard” scandal have not been stripped of their pensions.
Navy Officer Wrongful Suspected Of Spying
In this Navy Times report, one Asian-American officer was suspected of spying, based on his travels and association with a Taiwanese national.
Mr. Sheldon appeared on Crosstalk as an expert in military law: CrossTalk: The passion of Bradley Manning.
Discharged For Dementia?
The Army Times reports that a chaplain who has been diagnosed with dementia will not face a disciplinary discharge for misconduct related to his medical condition.
Military Injustice: Crime-Lab Worker’s Errors Cast Doubt On Military Verdicts
WASHINGTON – Life-and-death questions shadow misconduct at the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory, where investigators discovered that a lab analyst cut corners and falsified reports: Were the innocent convicted, and did the guilty go free?
The answer is troubling: In many cases, the destruction of evidence and the passage of time make it impossible to know.
“How do you resolve the question when you have no way, when the original samples have been lost and there is no way to retest them?” attorney Frank Spinner asked lab official Michael Auvdel at a July 2008 court hearing.
Pentagon Declares That Navy Officers Remarks Were Not Lobbying Effort
In another Navy Times report, the Pentagon has come out with a statement saying that an admiral’s remarks should not be thought of as a lobbying effort to Congress; something that is illegal for active duty military personnel. In a follow up report, the Pentagon recognized the admiral’s mistake, but said he didn’t break the rules.
Two Fired Naval Officers May Have Legal Path To Get Disciplinary Discharge Reversed
The Navy Times reports on two high-ranking Naval officers who faced disciplinary actions “before the mast” were removed from service Some experts in military law now think they may have recourse to get the disciplinary action reversed.
Psy-Ops Scopes Senators, But a Cover-Up Could Be the Real Scandal
Rolling Stone’s Michael Hastings has penned another potential career-ender for a U.S. Army general. In this case, however, the most riveting aspect of Hasting’s expose on Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, a three-star general in charge of training Afghan troops, isn’t Caldwell’s possible crimes, it is the alleged cover-up.
Hastings previously torpedoed the meteoric career of now-retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, after members of McChrystal’s inner circle mouthed off to Hastings about senior members of the Obama administration, including the President.
This time, Hastings takes aim at Caldwell, the former top U.S. spokesman in Iraq, who is now in charge of training Afghan security forces. The central accusation against Caldwell isn’t actually all that jaw dropping. Caldwell ordered a four-man team of Army psychological operations soldiers to help him prep for the visits of influential U.S. senators, including John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Jack Reed and others. Caldwell wanted the psychological operations team to assemble basic background profiles, including voting records and interests, that would help them influence the senators to provide the Army with more troops in Afghanistan. (Carl Levin, one of those senators, released a statement Thursday saying he “never needed any convincing” on this point.
Pentagon Studies Raising Military Lawyers’ Rank
The Defense Department will evaluate whether it should raise the rank of the armed services’ judge advocate generals (JAGS) to three-star positions after an independent panel of experts recommended giving the top military lawyers more power and authority within the Pentagon.