Psyche, Science, and Society

Politicize military lawyers, administration proposes

December 17th, 2007

In order to better pursue their pro-torture policies, the administration wants military lawyers to become subject to political hacks. Charlie Savage in the Boston Globe reports that the administration has proposed that all JAG [Judge Advocate General, the military's lawyers] promotions be “coordinated” with political appointees. The particular appointee they have in mind is the Pentagon’s general counsel, William Haynes, one of the architects of the administration’s torture policy.

The proposal does not spell out what coordination means. But both JAGs and outside legal specialists say that it is common bureaucratic parlance for requiring both sides to sign off before a decision gets made - meaning that political appointees would have the power to block any candidate’s career path.

“It only makes sense to put this in if you want [general counsels to exercise the power to give] thumbs up or thumbs down, in order to intimidate JAGs,” said retired Colonel Gordon Wilder, who was the Air Force’s top JAG specialist in administrative law until last January.

See Scott Horton’s comment: Bush Assails the JAG Corps

Entry Filed under: Law, Torture, US Troops