I got to the Wired piece through this from congressmatters.com blog.

When bad news breaks it has become almost routine for those at the top to disavow all knowledge and let the hammer come down on those well down in the hierarchy. The pattern showed up again twice this week, and is now so common as to be almost standardized. Ackerman’s piece sounds a similar warning. Although command responsibility has not existed in practice for the military for quite a while (the aftermath of Abu Ghraib was perfectly consistent with how military higher-ups evaded blame for the Tiger Force and My Lai atrocities decades earlier), there is now enough of a history for an attentive observer like Ackerman to outline just how the probable cover up will proceed, which is a remarkable development. Maybe the public has become so weary (via) of America’s endless, pointless conflicts that even war crimes can, when massaged with some rote denials, pass by with barely a ripple.

Media access.

Has the Army introduced an issue into the Stryker Brigade cases going to Article 32, UCMJ, hearing over the next few weeks. The New York Times reports. The hearings will be at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. “The case against Specialist Morlock is the first of the five to move to what the military calls an Article 32 hearing, in which the Army determines formal charges.”

A top Army official has ordered that images of dead or wounded “casualties or detainees” may not be made public during hearings involving an American soldier accused of murdering three Afghan civilians during a deployment to Afghanistan this year. “I have determined that the risk of potential prejudice to the substantive rights of the accused, as well as negative impact on the reputation of the armed forces, associated with the potential public dissemination of these images outweighs minimal hardship upon the accused as a result of this order,” wrote Colonel Huggins.

The memorandum does not appear to address the media issue. See this post for a discussion of media access to Article 32, UCMJ, hearings in the MAJ Hasan murder case at Fort Hood. As the NYT reports,

Questions have been raised over the Army’s handling of the cases.

The Army specialist who admits she murdered a Pierce County couple then kidnapped their baby two years ago will spend the rest of her life behind bars without the possibility of parole. In the conclusion to the court martial of Specialist Ivette Davila, military judge Colonel Stephen R. Henley also reduced Davila’s rank, took away all pay and allowances, and gave her a dishonorable discharge from the Army.

I say all but over because with a guilty plea the legal issues on appeal would be very limited. Knowing Judge Henley I would anticipate he did a thorough providency inquiry and that he was careful to ensure a fair sentencing hearing.

An Army Specialist accused of killing two fellow soldiers and taking their baby has changed her plea to guilty. Spc. Ivette Davila entered guilty pleas to two counts of premeditated murder and one count of kidnapping during a military court hearing Monday morning. It was not immediately clear whether the change was the result of a plea agreement with prosecutors. Officials said earlier this year that Davila could face the death penalty if convicted at a general court-martial.

The death penalty is off the table. You can’t plead guilty to a death penalty case in the military.

Seattle Times has this piece:

Spec. Ivette G. Davila, of Bakersfield, Calif., entered the plea Monday morning at the start of her court martial for the fatal shootings of Staff Sgt. Timothy Miller, 27, and Sgt. Randi Miller, 25, in the couple’s Parkland home. Army prosecutors have agreed to not seek the death penalty against Davila in exchange for her pleas to two counts of premeditated murder, and one count each of kidnapping and obstruction of justice.

Second Lt. Douglas Sofranko, a Florida National Guard officer photographed wearing a Navy SEAL Trident insignia he didn’t rate, has been relieved of his full-time duties with the Guard, and his future in the military is uncertain.

The earlier post, “Ooops I have to graduate?”, is here.

Military.com reports that:

Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents and Virginia Beach police are looking into possible threats against a local Navy officer who says he was subjected to anti-gay harassment while assigned to Oceana Naval Air Station.

deathandtaxesmag.com has this rather odd report on the astronaut case.

After a daylong hearing on Thursday, a Navy panel has finally suggested that Lisa Nowak should have her flying wings clipped. Her discharge comes in response to the time she famously drove from Texas to Florida in a pair of diapers and maced another astronaut over a love interest in 2007. However, if Nowak’s crush were a woman and not a man, this space cadet would be long gone by now.

The Arizona Daily Star reports that:

An airman who oversaw the armory at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base was sentenced to 19 months in prison Friday for stealing more than $25,000 worth of military weaponry, bullets and accessories and selling some of his haul on eBay.

The Record-Courier continues its coverage of the Davila death penalty case at Fort Lewis.

The court-martial of the woman who is accused of killing an Army couple in Fort Lewis, Wash., is scheduled for next week. Spc. Ivette Davila faces the death penalty in the March 2, 2008, slayings of soldiers Staff Sgt. Timothy and Sgt. Randi Miller. Davila’s general court-martial on kidnapping and murder charges starts Monday, according to Joseph J. Piek, spokesman for Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington. The hearing is expected to last through Aug. 26.

Sounds like they really do have a PTA?

7th Space Interactive reports:

A former United States Army sergeant pleaded guilty today to bribery in connection with a fuel theft scheme to solicit more than $400,000 in bribes from a government contractor in Afghanistan, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A Breuer of the Criminal Division and United States Attorney Neil H MacBride of the Eastern District of Virginia. Michael Dugger, 27, of Jonesboro, Ga ., pleaded guilty today before United States District Court Judge T S Ellis, III in the Eastern District of Virginia to a one-count criminal information charging him with bribery as a public official. Dugger was originally charged in a criminal complaint filed on June 24, 2010. The complaint charged him and Stevan Nathan Ringo, a former United States Army staff sergeant in Afghanistan, with one count of conspiracy to commit theft of government property.

(A client until they whisked him off to prosecution in the E.D. of VA.)