Though Allison Gill was correct in her May 19 op-ed, “Overturning Roe would be disastrous for the U.S. military,” that the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act was not passed last year, last year’s National Defense Authorization Act included my bipartisan provision to remove cases of sexual assault, murder, stalking, kidnapping, domestic violence and other special victim offenses from the chain of command. These provisions achieved the most historic and sweeping military justice reforms since the creation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice in 1950 and will ensure that prosecutorial decisions will be made by an independent military attorney outside of the victim’s and assailant’s chain of command. Independent special trial counsels will be under civilian control, reporting to the secretaries of the Army, Air Force and Navy.
