The defense does not plan to present any evidence when a military hearing resumes next week for the Army psychiatrist charged in last year’s deadly Fort Hood shootings, the lead defense attorney said Tuesday. John Galligan said the government had offered “no surprises” in presenting its case against Maj. Nidal Hasan during two weeks of testimony in October.

Army Times reports.

An Army sergeant accused of masterminding a plan to kill Afghan civilians for sport used manipulation and intimidation to lead other soldiers into acts of unspeakable cruelty, an Army prosecutor told a military hearing Tuesday. But the defense attorney for Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs said the government has no physical evidence against the 25-year-old from Billings, Mont. — only the statements of other soldiers, many of whom also are charged in the case.

Kate Wiltrout at Virginia Pilot reports on a command response on the USS SAN ANTONIO case.

For Lt. Cmdr. Sean Kearns, the outcome of last week’s court-martial is crystal clear. Kearns, former executive officer of the troubled amphibious transport dock San Antonio, was found not guilty of criminal negligence related to the death of a sailor who drowned last year in the Gulf of Aden. For the man who opted to send Kearns to trial, the ramifications of the case are more murky.

Admiral Harvey presents an interesting contrast between legal and criminal responsibility for a senior officer, and the maxim that a captain should go down with his ship. While to XO may have been acquitted as a matter of criminal law, it appears that he is guilty as a matter of Navy philosophy of command responsibility.

The XO of USS SAN ANTONIO

has chosen to go to a court-martial on charges he was negligent on the day a sailor was lost at sea last year. If convicted, Lt. Cmdr. Sean D. Kearns, now assigned to a staff job at the U.S. Navy’s Second Fleet headquarters in Norfolk, would be the second person publicly reprimanded for a role in the death of Petty Officer 1st Class Theo-philus Ansong on Feb. 4, 2009. The San Antonio, an amphibious transport dock ship that’s the first of its kind, was operating in the Gulf of Aden and preparing to transfer sailors to another U.S. ship nearby. Ansong, 34, was in an 11-meter rigid hull inflatable boat that flipped while it was being lowered by crane from the San Antonio into the water. Three sailors were thrown from the small boat; two were rescued. Ansong’s body was never recovered.

The former CO received a letter of reprimand in May 2010 at flag mast.

The defense counsel has said that the defense will be based on a known design flaw in the ship which:

made lowering a small boat into the water more challenging than on other classes of ships, such as destroyers. There are now five San Antonio-class ships in the fleet. “We are aware that they are encountering the same problems and difficulties,” he said. After Ansong’s death, the Navy rolled out a series of changes in how ships in the class should change their standard operating procedures when dealing with small boats, he said.

A senior chief who was censured by the Secretary of the Navy for hazing sailors under his command may retire with a full pension, Navy officials say. Since it was announced last October, the terms of Michael Toussaint’s retirement have come under scrutiny that is unprecedented for an enlisted sailor. The senior chief petty officer, who from 2005 to 2006 led a Bahrain-based canine unit that was plagued by widespread documented abuse, denied much of his alleged misconduct in February during a retirement board hearing, a proceeding normally reserved for commissioned officers. The case will soon go to the desk of an assistant secretary of the Navy, who faces a choice: to approve the unanimous recommendation of the three board members who said Toussaint deserves to retire with a senior chief’s pension; or to take a harder line and reduce him to a lower pay grade, as government lawyers had sought to do during the hearing.

And the Virginia Pilot online reports:

A Marine staff sergeant pleaded guilty Tuesday to mistreating 17 male subordinates by touching them in the groin, repeatedly making offensive sexual comments and gestures, and accusing them of being gay. . . . judge sentenced him to a year in confinement, reduction in rank and a bad conduct discharge. In exchange for McCoy’s guilty plea, the government dropped 24 other charges against him, including 14 counts of sexual misconduct and three counts of assault.

Federal Computer Week has this post about Facebook.

The National Guard Bureau is giving guard members specific guidance on how to control their privacy settings on Facebook and what to avoid publishing on social media sites.

And on a different note, Stars & Stripes reports that:

Citing “serious” crime in the area, Yokota’s base commander on Tuesday banned troops, dependents and Defense Department civilians from six bars in the already restricted entertainment district near Yokota’s main gate.

Kate Wiltrout reports the retrial of Richard Mott at NOB, NorVA.

Almost two years after a Navy judge found Seaman Richard Mott guilty of attempted premeditated murder and sentenced him to 12 years in prison, he got a second chance this week to plead his case before a new judge and a military jury. Like last time, Mott’s lawyers argued that he should not be held criminally responsible for attacking a fellow sailor because he was suffering from paranoid delusions at the time of the attack.

Here is a link to United States v. Mott, NMCCA 200900115 (N-M.C. Ct. Crim. App. 24 November 2009).

Kitsap Sun reports that:

A doctor who is being expelled from the Navy was charged by Kitsap County prosecutors Thursday with failing to register as a sex offender, according to attorneys familiar with the case.

Here is a piece by the Island Packet which follows up on the two MCAS Beaufort Marines pending civilian charges.

Air station officials are awaiting the case’s outcome before proceeding with possible military charges against the Marines, who have been under barracks restriction since the incident.

Seems like the R.C.M. 707 clock is running, and perhaps the Article 13, UCMJ consideration? Remember, Liberty Risk programs do not apply in CONUS, they are an overseas practice only.

Fort Scott Tribune has this reminder about falling asleep on post.

To fall asleep on guard duty in a combat zone could be FATAL for the soldier and or his comrades in arms, especially if the area is known to be SWARMING WITH ENEMY GUERRILLAS!

A little more about the moss growing on Rolling Stone from AP.

The U.S. Army inspector general is investigating whether aides to former Afghanistan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal were insubordinate when they made a series of derogatory comments about top civilian leaders to a Rolling Stone reporter, McClatchy Newspapers has learned.

I also heard on my drive back from Fort Bragg last night that the reporter has had his 101st ABN embed revoked based on a lack of trust and concern he will not follow pre-established ground rules.

Air Force Times reports that:

The former top enlisted airman at Air Force Materiel Command will defend himself against 19 charges that include adultery and misuse of his government position at a December court-martial.

Here’s another piece (in military.com) on the reinstatement move for MajGen Lavelle:

In an Aug. 4 statement, the Pentagon said that President Obama had posthumously nominated Maj. Gen. John D. Lavelle to the rank of general after the Air Force Board for the Correction of Military Records found the former commander of the 7th Air Force had rightfully executed his orders and had not participated in falsifying records. “In 2007, newly released and declassified information resulted in evidence that Lavelle was authorized by President Richard Nixon to conduct the bombing missions,” the Pentagon release stated.

When Soldiers Become Killers is a piece in Gulf News.

“I came over here because I wanted to kill people.” -Private First Class Steven Green, US Army; interview given to Washington Post reporter Andrew Tilghman; Iraq, February 2006 “I am truly sorry for what I did in Iraq and I am sorry for the pain my actions, and the actions of my co-defendants, have caused you and your family … I helped to destroy a family and end the lives of four of my fellow human beings …” -Steven Green, ex-US Army; addressing the Al Janabi family in US Court, 2009.

The Hook reports that:

Citizenship and Immigration Canada has advised immigration officers that military deserters seeking permanent residence should be treated as “high profile, contentious and sensitive cases,” and kicked upstairs for resolution.

I posted the other day about Fricke, here is some more reporting on his death:

The Virginia Pilot reports that:

Former Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael Fricke, 54, was about a month away from being released for the crime when he died Thursday after being beaten with a baseball bat in a fight. The high-profile case went on for about 15 years, starting with the investigation of the murder and wending its way through military and civilian courts.

Who is that phantom Justice Thomas (Ledger-Enquirer)?

On July 20, Taitz posted a motion requesting that she be allowed to verify that it is, in fact, Thomas’ signature on the denial of her application. She’s also sent her request for stay to Justice Samuel Alito, though she said a clerk told her it had been returned because of a small technical issue.

There are some things even a bank won’t do:

As he sits in the Bell County Jail, accused in the Nov. 5 Fort Hood shootings that left 13 dead, Maj. Nidal Hasan continues to receive his monthly U.S. Army paycheck; based on his rank and experience, it is probably more than $6,000. But Hasan, who is charged with 13 counts of murder in the attack, is not a standard defendant. And he’s having a hard time finding a bank to take his money. According to his civilian attorney John Galligan, Bank of America notified Hasan last month that it was closing his account and no area bank has agreed to open an account for the Army psychiatrist.