Military leaders argued that bringing in independent prosecutors could erode the chain of command.
Serious question: does anyone know what the actual argument was in this case? How would independent prosecutors “erode the chain of command?”
“We have investigated ourselves and found that we did nothing wrong.” Pretty much that. It would get rid of their ability to do that.
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Maybe. But that seems like a really weak argument. This is a very specific power being deferred out of the command chain–can’t easily see how it dilutes the authority of anyone involved all that much.
It’s about time, sexual assault has been a problem and members of the military for a long time and I know that not every commanding officer can be trusted to uphold the law when it comes to things like the cohesion of their unit. Am independent reviewer will ensure that each case is given equal attention and something like this shouldn’t be at the discretion of the commander.