Liberal Senators Continue Effort to Undermine Military Justice

The lead paragraph of a news release issued today by the senior U.S. senator from Missouri says it all:

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.)

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.)

Today, U.S. Senators Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine.) and U.S. Representatives Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.) introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation to combat sexual assaults in the military by better holding perpetrators accountable and better protecting survivors. The updated version of the group’s legislation includes additional provisions to protect and enhance the rights of victims. The lawmakers are working to include the legislation in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act.

It comes as no shock that Senator McCaskill has joined forces with two RINO Republicans and one ultra-liberal Democrat in proposing legislation to modify the Uniform Code of Military Justice. What’s shocking, however, is the content of what these senators have proposed in this effort to undermine military commanders’ authority as part of DoD’s War on Men.

The bill, according to the news release I received via email today, contains reforms to better address sexual assault prosecutions and aid survivors including provisions that:

• Remove the convening authority’s ability to change or dismiss an adjudged court-martial conviction for any charge or specification except for a charge or specification for a minor offense;

• Require a convening authority to provide written justification for any modifications made to a sentence, and require that they receive input from the victim;

• Require that a person found guilty of an offense of rape, sexual assault, forcible sodomy, or an attempt to commit any of those offenses receive a punishment that includes, at a minimum, a dismissal or dishonorable discharge; and

• Eliminate the five-year statute of limitations on Trial by Courts-Martial for sexual assault and sexual assault of a child.

To learn more about why these senators should keep their political noses out of this matter, read my earlier posts listed below:

Is DoD Waging War on Men?;

Senators Want Air Force General Fired for Doing Right Thing;

DoD War on Men: Comparing Messages Sent by Accusers;

Navy Sacrifices Officer to Appease Members of Congress;

National Defense University Publishes Must-Read Article About Military Sexual Assault;

Senator McCaskill Continues Reckless Effort to Undermine Military Justice System;

Air Force General Puts Sexual Assault Case Documents Online;

Senator Claire McCaskill Continues Assault on Military Justice System;

Retired Air Force Nurse Applauds General Franklin, Expresses Disdain for Senator McCaskill; and

“Innocent Until Proven Guilty” Foreign to Senator McCaskill.

The text of the legislation proposed by Senator McCaskill and her colleagues is available HERE, and a section-by-section breakdown of the bill is attached.

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  Bob McCarty is the author of two nonfiction books, Three Days In August and THE CLAPPER MEMO. Both are available in paperback and ebook formats at Amazon.com.

Talk Radio Appearances Set Tonight and Sunday

Thanks to a lot of friends in talk radio, the “buzz” continues to spread about THE CLAPPER MEMO, my recently-released second nonfiction book that connects the dots between three memos declaring the polygraph the Department of Defense’s only approved credibility assessment tool and hundreds of U.S. and coalition casualties of “Green-on-Blue” or “Insider” attacks in Afghanistan. To date, radio audiences I’ve encountered have been appalled to hear that DoD officials have placed a tool more-effective than polygraph off limits to DoD personnel.

Paul-Ibbetson-BannerDuring the 5 p.m. hour (Central time) tonight, I’ll be a guest of Dr. Paul A. Ibbetson on the “Conscience of Kansas” radio program on KRMR – The Patriot 105.7 in Great Bend, Kan. The fact that Dr. Ibbetson is, in addition to being a radio program host, an author and a retired chief of police not unfamiliar with law enforcement’s use of the polygraph, should help generate lively and interesting discussion.

Marc Cox

Marc Cox

On Sunday at 8:30 p.m. Central, I’ll make a guest appearance on “The Marc Cox Show” on St. Louis’ FM NewsTalk 97.1. Host Marc Cox is a veteran of more than two decades of television news reporting and knows how to get to the heart of any issue; therefore, this show should involve a lot of great discussion as well.

Already endorsed by three heavyweight Americans, THE CLAPPER MEMO is available in paperback or ebook versions from Amazon.

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  Bob McCarty’s first nonfiction book, Three Days In August, is also available in ebook and paperback at Amazon.

News of Deadly Oklahoma Tornado Brings Back Memories

News of the deadly tornado that killed more than 51 at least 24 in Moore, Okla., Monday brought back memories of another painful episode in the book of Oklahoma living.

Before moving to the St. Louis area, my family called Norman, Okla., home.  Having grown up in the Sooner State before traveling the world as an Air Force couple, my wife and I knew — or thought we knew — what to expect.  We did not, however, expect what took place one evening 14 years ago.

Like most of our neighbors in northwest Norman, we lived in a typical three-bedroom home that did not have a basement or a safe room.  It may seem strange, but few homes in the state (a.k.a., “tornado alley”) had such amenities.  Everyone with a television set, however, did have legendary local weatherman Gary England.

On that memorable evening, I paid close attention to England’s reporting on dangerous storms traversing the state from the southwest to the northeast.  When he told television viewers to seek shelter underground immediately or face certain death, I made a critical decision; for the first time since moving to Norman three years earlier, I drove my wife and three young sons to an underground public shelter at a nearby elementary school.

Though the powerful F-5 tornado did not hit our home, it left a mile-wide path of destruction just a few miles north in Moore while packing the strongest surface winds ever recorded on earth — more than 200 miles per hour.

Television news reports during the days that followed featured video footage showing the tornado’s path stretching for miles and resembling what a giant vacuum cleaner might leave behind (i.e., nothing that resembled the homes and businesses that had been in the path of the tornado moments earlier).

All of that took place on May 3, 1999.  I’ll never forget it.  Today, my heart goes out to those impacted by the storms that hit central Oklahoma this week.

Pray for Okla

Click here for information about how you can help.

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Bob McCarty is the author of two nonfiction books, Three Days In August and THE CLAPPER MEMO. Both are available in paperback and ebook formats at Amazon.com.

Parents of Imprisoned Army Officer Send Update

EDITOR’S NOTE: I’ve been following the case of Army Ranger 1st Lt. Michael Behenna since 2009. In addition, I wrote a book, Three Days In August, about Army Sgt. 1st Class Kelly A. Stewart, another wrongfully-convicted man he befriended while both served time behind the walls of the U.S. Military Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Today, I share an email update (below) from Lieutenant Behenna’s parents, Scott and Vicki Behenna:

Clockwise from upper left:  Michael's family; Michael; Michael as a youngster; and Michael and his girlfriend, Shannon.

Clockwise from upper left: Michael’s family; Michael as a Soldier; Michael as a youngster; and Michael and his girlfriend, Shannon.

To all the thousands of Michael supporters,

Michael’s case, including the Petition, the Government Response, and the Reply to the Government Response, is now complete and before the Supreme Court. The Supremes have set Michael’s case to be initially discussed at their conference on May 30th which is ironically during the 50th Anniversary of Brady vs Maryland (the Supreme Court case demanding that prosecutors disclose all beneficial information to the criminally accused). During the conference, four out of the nine Supreme Court Justices must vote to hear the case in order to grant certiorari. If certiorari is granted in Michael’s case it would be the first time the Supremes would have granted a service member’s appeal from the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF). Needless to say, anxiousness will abound for the next few weeks and prayers are certainly welcome. We should have the Court’s decision sometime during the first week of June. If the Court grants certiorari, Michael’s case would proceed through a briefing process, oral arguments, and a decision by the Supreme Court hopefully before the end of the year.

We can’t thank you enough for all the encouraging cards and letters that you sent to Michael for his birthday. As Michael told us this past weekend it is these cards and letters that help him navigate the sometimes helpless and hopeless thoughts that have haunted him these past four years behind prison walls. He reads every card and letter sent to him, but given his prison schedule of work, exercise time, meals and early lights out he unfortunately does not have time to send out very many thank you notes. For this he sends his apologies and hopes a day will come soon when he can thank all of you in person.

If you did not see the Mother’s Day tribute to Vicki last Sunday in the Oklahoman, hopefully the attached video and article will describe the huge appreciation we have for all your support and what your individual words of encouragement have meant to Michael and our whole family.

Vicki’s Mother’s Day Video

Vicki’s Mother’s Day Article

Bless you all for your support of our son,

Scott & Vicki Behenna
DefendMichael.com

I pray for this young man’s swift release.

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Bob McCarty is the author of two nonfiction books, Three Days In August and THE CLAPPER MEMO. Both are available in paperback and ebook formats at Amazon.com.

Questions Surround FBI’s Use of Century-Old Polygraph

This morning, I read an article by McClatchy News reporter Marisa Taylor. Published in the Raleigh, N.C., News-Observer, its polygraph-focused content seems to contradict what an FBI supervisory special agent told members of a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary about the polygraph in 1997.

NewsObserver FBI Poly Applicants LR 5-20-13

Click image to read NewsObserver article.

Taylor reported the nation’s top law enforcement agency has been turning down applicants because they fail their polygraph tests. Such moves fly in the face of testimony offered by FBI Supervisory Special Agent (Dr.) Drew Campbell Richardson.

In a piece I published one week ago, I highlighted Richardson’s description of polygraph screening as “completely without any theoretical foundation and has absolutely no validity.”

TCM Richardson Story LR 5-13-13

Click image to read article.

Am I surprised by what Taylor uncovered or that the FBI continues to rely on often-criticized century-old technology? No.

After all, I spent much of the past four years learning about the polygraph and those loyal to it who, for more than 40 years, have waged a “turf war” against any and all challengers to their domain as the federal government’s credibility assessment technology of choice.

Unlike the wars that have been fought in Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam and elsewhere since the early 1970s, this turf war I uncovered has been fought overseas and at home.

Most recently, it has contributed to hundreds of American and coalition casualties in Afghanistan in so-called “Green-on-Blue” or “Insider” attacks — that is, when so-called Afghan allies turn upon their foreign colleagues, often with deadly impact.

For details about this turf war, order a copy of my recently-released second nonfiction book, THE CLAPPER MEMO. It’s available in paperback and ebook versions from Amazon.

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Bob McCarty’s first nonfiction book, Three Days In August, is also available in ebook and paperback at Amazon.

News Articles About Polygraph Highlight Findings in Book

Months after McClatchy News published reporter Marisa Taylor‘s series, The Polygraph Files, she continues to provide fodder that supports the findings I share in my recently-released second nonfiction book, THE CLAPPER MEMO.

McClatchy Poly Article 1 - 5-20-13

Click to read about polygraph favoritism.

In one piece published today in the Miami Herald, Taylor points out the close ties between polygraph loyalists inside and outside the federal government. Among those mentioned in the article and in my book at the folks at Lafayette Instrument Company, the nation’s largest polygraph manufacturer, and at the American Polygraph Association, the world’s largest association of polygraph professionals.

In a second piece published in the same newspaper, Taylor points out a potentially-devastating glitch in the widely-used polygraph.

McClatchy Poly Article 2 - 5-20-13

Click to read about polygraph glitch.

Both of Taylor’s findings support my contention that a win-at-all-cost “turf war” against any and all challengers to their technology has been waged by polygraph loyalists for more than 40 years against any. Further, Taylor’s articles support my findings that the reliance of the federal government — and, in particular, the Department of Defense — on the polygraph has resulted in U.S. military and intelligence personnel facing higher-than-necessary risk of becoming casualties in places like Afghanistan.

I highly recommend you read all of Taylor’s reports mentioned above and, afterward, suggest you order a copy of my book, THE CLAPPER MEMO. When you do, you’ll learn never-before-published details about the turf war and its connection to “Green-on-Blue” or “Insider” attacks in Afghanistan.

THE CLAPPER MEMO is available in paperback and ebook versions from Amazon.

RELATED NEWS

UPDATE 5/21/2013 at 11:36 a.m. Central: The U.S. government has pledged $23 million to help improve security and fight drug trafficking and other crimes in the eastern Caribbean region. Among other things, according to this report, the money will be used in part for training and to buy polygraph equipment.

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Bob McCarty’s first nonfiction book, Three Days In August, is also available in ebook and paperback at Amazon.

THE CLAPPER MEMO #3 — Amazon’s ‘Top 100 Hot New Releases in Terrorism’

The Kindle version of THE CLAPPER MEMO continues to climb the charts, now showing up in the #3 spot in Amazon’s “Top 100 Hot New Releases in Terrorism.”

TCM Amazon Hot New Rel Terror LR 2013-05-15 at 10.57Thanks to everyone who’s helping get the word out about this book which, by the way, comes highly recommended.

THE CLAPPER MEMO is available in paperback and ebook versions from Amazon.

"Three Days In August" by Bob McCarty BobHeadshotSmall TCM Cover LR 4-10-13

  Bob McCarty’s first nonfiction book, Three Days In August, is also available in ebook and paperback at Amazon.