Texas senator is demanding answers from the Air Force on the current status of the 10 AWOL Afghan military deserters, which he called a breach of national security.
The initial number of Afghans being floated was 17. Now:
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that:
The victim of Thursday’s U.S. Army Reserve post shooting and his alleged killer both apparently worked together, Army officials said Friday. Both men were full-time Army Guard reserve soldiers assigned to the Army Medical Professional Management Command, spokeswoman Maj. Lenora Hutchinson told the AJC.
It’s unclear whether they both were on-duty and working in the office building near the southeast corner of Fort Gillem when the shooting took place, but the alleged shooter was said to be in military uniform when he later turned himself in to police in Lake City, just south of the base.
Military.com has this piece of information which is a little different but nuanced than other reports.
Emery said it is rare for DLI students to go AWOL but it happens. An Iraqi soldier disappeared in 2009 but turned up in Houston where he asked for asylum rather than return to Iraq. A soldier from Djibouti also went missing in 2009. This year one soldier each from Tunisia and Guinea Bissau have gone AWOL.
An Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking classified information to Wikileaks has still not been charged with any crime, three weeks after being arrested and put in pre-trial confinement.
This is not an unusual time. Under Article 10, UCMJ, the government has a 120 window. However, that does not mean that the charges can or will be dismissed if the government takes longer than the 120 days.
However, in the meantime here is some of the back-story which may have some relevance to SPC Manning currently in pretrial confinement at Camp Arifjan.
Here is an unpublished opinion in United States v. Jones, No. 09-15005 (11th Cir. 17 June 2010). I’ve commented before about how nuanced sex offender registration issues can get.
Christopher Martin Jones appeals from his sentence imposed following his conviction for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. On appeal, Jones argues that the district court erroneously found that his 1992 conviction by a special court-martial for sodomy, in violation of United States Military Justice ("UCMJ") Article 125, 10 U.S.C. § 925, constitutes a sex offense that requires registration under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, 42 U.S.C. § 16901 et. seq. ("SORNA"). Accordingly, he argues, the court abused its discretion in ordering that he register as a sex offender under SORNA as a special condition of his supervised release (special condition 5). In addition, Jones also argues that the court abused its discretion in imposing special conditions 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 of his supervised release, which are targeted toward preventing future sexual misconduct. Relying on 18 U.S.C. § 3583(d), Jones contends that, in light of the fact that his criminal history includes only one conviction for a sex offense, and this offense occurred in 1992, these special conditions are not reasonably related to the sentencing goals set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a).
For the reasons set forth below, we vacate and remand.
I posted yesterday about the Afghan military personnel AWOL in CONUS.
Before it’s News now is tying this incident with this:
In late January, Senators were warned that Al Qaeda is determined to stage an attack on U.S. soil by July 2010. This information circled the media for some time, as they continually pumped images of Al Qaeda onto newscasts around the world. If this “threat” holds true than we only have 13 days left until a major attack.
Here is a charge sheet for one of the accused, United States v. Morlock.
Here is an official press release from JBLM.
A nationwide alert has been issued for 17 members of the Afghan military who have gone AWOL from a Texas Air Force base where foreign military officers who are training to become pilots are taught English, FoxNews.com has learned. . . .
A senior Defense Department official in Washington told Fox News he had no direct knowledge of the 17 men being AWOL. The official added that this is not the first time foreign trainees have gone missing, and said some cases in the past have turned out to be more of an immigration concern than a national security threat.
First Quon, now the Army Times reports that:
A federal appeals court says the search of a Virginia Army private’s MP3 player that found child pornography was constitutional.
Here is a link to the decision in United States v. Rendon.
The respondent in Michigan v. Bryant has filed his brief and is found here courtesy of Professor Friedman (who indicates a likely amicus filing on his part).
Here is the QP:
Whether preliminary inquiries of a wounded citizen concerning the perpetrator and circumstances of the shooting are nontestimonial because they were “made under circumstances objectively indicating that the primary purpose of the interrogation is to enable police assistance to meet an ongoing emergency,” including not only aid to a wounded victim, but also the prompt identification and apprehension of an apparently violent and dangerous individual?
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
