LTC Lakin’s problem is that they can simply charge him with what they’ve charged — failure to obey a lawful order — and never need to give him access to the information he hoped would be revealed in order for him to conduct his defense.
The “why” he disobeyed is a moot point. They’ll simply focus on whether or not he obeyed....or indicated that he would not obey.
I feared this from the very beginning and someplace on FR is a post saying as much.
As with all deployment orders, his came through the CJCS, a duly appointed officer in charge of the US military. He can’t even point to the president’s name on those orders. Therefore, he’s standing in opposition to a superior officer appointed by CONGRESS, in an overseas operation approved by Congress, and Congress has the constitutional power to regulate the military, not the president.
I believe he made a tactical error, and now the issue is how to get out of it.
His safest course now that the deck is stacked against him is to claim duress due to combat fatigue/deployment stress and agree to obey the orders. His gambit failed.
We need to have this good man out of the military and preserved for another fight on another day.
I think he may have a fighting chance on the issue of whether or not his order to deploy is lawful. If the war was a declared war authorized by an act of Congress, then whether or not Obama is eligible for the office would be irrelevant unless the specific order was signed by Obama.
OTOH, if the war is a continuation of a deployment of troops ordered by an ineligible president and not specifically authorized as a declared war by an act of Congress, then any deployment would, as a matter of law, be an illegal deployment, and by his oath as an officer, Larkin would have a duty to disobey that order. In this case Larkin is asking the military to confirm Obama’s eligibility before he deploys. I think such a request is not only reasonable, but it is essential.