[csn vinnie]

That doesn’t fix it. The Commander (in Chief) got up before the troops and public and said that in sexual harassment cases, A, B, C and D must happen. “Period.” Then, a subordinate gets up and says, “Pay no attention to the Old Man. Here’s what you do.”

A subordinate cannot countermand the instructions of his superior. The Command Influence is still there. Now, maybe Hagel could have said, “What you heard from the President would be an illegal order. You are not to follow illegal orders.” That, I would like to see.

[bigheadfred]

“What you heard from the President would be an illegal order. You are not to follow illegal orders.”

I'd pay to see that movie.

[jazusamo]

You're exactly right, this won't fix it. A judge already ruled unlawful command influence in a case 2 months ago. This link is also at source.

Judge: Obama sex assault comments 'unlawful command influence'

[DanMiller]

Rape and other types of sexual assault are bad and should be punished. So should other criminal offenses. However, each case depends on its unique facts and it is the function of the panel of officers (and in some cases enlisted personnel) at a court martial to determine the facts once a case has been designated by the convening authority for trial and the trial has begun. Ensuring that they do so is one of the most important functions of a military judge

The lack of command influence was once a major feature of military law. Back in 1970, many years ago, when I was a special court martial military judge for Korea, we had been advised, very emphatically, in the JAG course I attended before being allowed to assume what became my responsibilities, that several general officers in Europe had been dismissed from the service for attempting to exert command influence. It was definitely a no-no. Has that happened recently? Back then, I took great pride in the military justice system because it was, in many respects, far superior to the civilian justice system. It still should be.

The military justice system, and the entire military, should reject any of the sort of command influence which, in a civilian context, brought us the George Zimmerman farce. It should reject, strongly, any attempt at command influence, whether by the Commander in Chief, convening authorities or anyone else.

President Obama has shown the wrong way and officers subject to and compliant with his whims seem in many cases, not only implicating military justice, to have abdicated their responsibilities.