I have to question the purpose of these "memos". I use the term loosely because they don't perform the basic function of a memo--communication. They are just personal notes. If the Colonel was getting ready to discipline the son of an influential politician, it seems to me he would want to DOCUMENT that he did everything in his power to avoid it and show he was left no other choice. This would mean written acknowledgement of the orders from the LT, documentation in his aviators training file and memos flung far and wide to notify the chain what was coming.
I don't see these memos providing CYA, in fact by nature of writing them and holding them in a secret personal file it could show prejudice towards the individual.
Perhaps the command level officers on the board could provide a different perspective. When dealing with sensitive situations like this as a senior enlisted, you had better cross every T and dot every I. Pulling a file out a drawer with personal notes isn't going to cut it when the questions come rolling down the chain. In fact you could be accused of trying to set someone up. The whole thing smells I tell ya.
After all, Killian died in office, so it wasn't as if Killian himself spent a lot of time going through files and purging his personal records before he passed away. Whoever forged (er-typed) the memo's this eyar pawnd hem off as "real memo's" ... And Dan rather bought it, hook, line, and sucker.