But for lesser forms of misconduct, or when a commander does not know that conduct is criminal, the administrative investigation is a useful tool. If a commander or JAG believes at the outset that a member’s conduct is criminal, then an administrative investigation is less appropriate than an investigation run by a law enforcement agency. An administrative investigation is a tool for commanders to discover the facts of a particular situation. The power to authorize an investigation is inherent in command. Our goal for this article is to provide a sufficient starting point, so a JAG from any servicing branch knows where to begin and how to proceed. This article is not intended to give advice on managing courts-martial, because each combatant command or service may differ on whether or not it implements courts-martial in theater or outside. By flagging the most salient distinctions between the services’ rules, including collateral administrative regulations, our goal is to help the JAG practitioner keep an eye out for potential pitfalls that could make or break legal sufficiency. This primer is intended to be an initial reference when conducting investigations or shepherding NJPs in a joint environment with different services. Although the armed services vary in how they issue and process administrative paperwork, we focus on NJPs because, as the name indicates, they are punitive in nature and are likely to have a more significant impact on a service member than administrative paperwork. NJPs may also result from criminal investigations that do not result in courts-martial. Administrative investigations do not necessarily lead to NJPs and may result in lesser forms of corrective action, like administrative paperwork. Therefore, we appreciate the value of good initial guidance. Also, we have advised on NJP under the rules of each of the services. We collaborated to conduct these investigations together in austere forward locations. While deployed, we have conducted investigations under the rules of the Air Force, Army, and Navy. As the United States Marine Corps falls under the administration of the Department of the Navy, Navy regulations on administrative investigations and NJPs also apply to the Marine Corps.Īlthough the Uniform Code of Military Justice is intended to apply across all armed services, each has developed its own tools and procedures for investigating offenses and prosecuting them. It serves as a primer to discuss differences in non-criminal, administrative investigations and non-judicial punishments (NJP) between the Departments of the Air Force, Army, and Navy. However, this article focuses on two areas where we have experienced an even greater volume of work. There are dedicated agencies for conducting criminal investigations, and JAGs may often advise them. Dealing with members of another service can often feel like foreign territory, and getting up to speed with other services’ disciplinary rules and regulations can be daunting.Īlthough the Uniform Code of Military Justice is intended to apply across all armed services, each has developed its own tools and procedures for investigating offenses and prosecuting them. But what we can count on is that when a service member gets in trouble or when a deployed commander believes that a situation warrants investigation, the JAG is expected to know exactly how to proceed. We cannot always control what rules we have to apply, and we do not always have robust reach-back support to check our work. Unfortunately, that level of knowledge is insufficient in a joint environment.Īs JAGs, we are often tasked to deploy with other services. It makes sense that we focus on our service-specific rules at our home stations. JAGs are trained in the rules and regulations of our respective services and each branch employs its preferred methods and forms for obtaining facts and using those facts to impose discipline. In today’s joint environment, each armed service is expected to collaborate with the others to ensure mission success, and this expectation extends to the attorneys. Dealing with members of another service can often feel like foreign territory, and getting up to speed with other services’ disciplinary rules and regulations can be daunting.
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