All Posts

21 April 2026 FROM: The Former Judge Advocates Working Group SUBJECT: The Insurrection Act and Military Personnel at Polling Places In our Third Memorandum dated 7 October 2025, the Former JAGs Working Group alerted Congress to two potential threats to our democracy involving the (mis)use of our military: (1) the targeting of Americans under the pretense that they are members of “domestic terror organizations” such as “Antifa,” and (2) the intimidation of voters by posting tr

Retired Major General Steven Lepper, a former U.S. Air Force Deputy Judge Advocate General, discussed the right to free speech among current and former military and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Originally streamed by CSPAN follow link to view video here

Originally aired on CNN found here

Published by MSNOW article here By Lt. Col. Rachel E. VanLandingham (ret.) While a ceasefire agreement averted threatened devastation in Iran on Tuesday, President Donald’s Trump’s prior threat that “ A whole civilization will die tonight , never to be brought back again,” cannot and should not be forgotten. His words promising to inflict such massive violence should not be forgotten because they were, quite literally, criminal in their utterance , in addition to threatenin

Please Note that the full PDF includes footnotes please view that version for full context. Legal Foundations of Honorable Military Service The Former JAGs Working Group Perspective The Nation’s senior military officers are increasingly confronted with orders and decisions that challenge their oath 1 to support and defend the Constitution. Most have likely wrestled with what they would do if such orders were to cross their own legal, ethical, and moral redlines. As former ju

Originally published by CNN found here

Originally Published by MSNOW can be found here

Published on TRT World Now can be watched here

Originally published by The Berkshireedge can be found here Written by Eugene R. Fidell April 6, 2026 In normal times, there would be every reason to expect that President Trump will continue to occupy the nation’s highest office until noon on January 20, 2029. That is a few months shy of three years from now. Given his age, debilitation, and increasingly aberrant behavior on a host of issues, however, there is reason to doubt whether he will be fit to hold office until then.

Originally published by Just Security and can be found here By Margaret Donovan and Rachel VanLandingham, Lt Col, USAF (Ret.) “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!” posted President Donald Trump on Easter Sunday. In case one thought that was an impulsive utterance, it’s notable that the president in apparently prepared remarks a few days earlier said , “If there is no deal, we are going to hit each

The downing of a US Air Force F-15E with two crewmembers is at the top of the news. Fortunately, one crewmember has been rescued. The Former JAGs Working Group – attorneys who have served as military judge advocates and have united to oppose the Trump Administration’s systematic dismantling of the military’s legal, ethical, and moral guardrails – hopes the US rescue efforts underway will result in the missing crew member’s quick recovery. If that doesn’t happen and Iranian mi

Published by MSNOW article can be found here By Lt. Col. Rachel E. VanLandingham (ret.) On Saturday, two Apache helicopters from the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, based in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, buzzed musician Kid Rock’s mansion while on a training mission in Tennessee. That training mission, in case it needs to be stated, did not include those helicopters hovering near the well-known MAGA acolyte’s pool. Kid Rock took advantage of the moment, gleefully posting videos

The Former JAGs Working Group was created in February 2025 when the Secretary of Defense fired The Judge Advocates General of the Army and Air Force for the purpose of eliminating them as obstacles to the policy initiatives he and the president intended to advance. His exact words: to eliminate them as “roadblocks to orders that are given by a commander in chief.” As we work to rebuild the military’s legal, moral, and ethical guardrails this administration has systematically

By Steven J. Lepper , William D. Baumgartner , Eugene R. Fidell , Daniel Maurer and Rachel VanLandingham, Lt Col, USAF (Ret.) Orignally posted on Just Security you can find it here In February 2025, when President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth fired the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a number of other senior military officers including the Judge Advocates General of the Army and Air Force, we joined with a number of our former judge advocate (

His remarks could hurt recruitment, retention, and national security. By Eugene R. Fidell, Margaret M. Donovan, and Priya Rashid Originally Posted on Boston Globe and can be found here Updated March 24, 2026, 2:02 p.m. Eugene R. Fidell, Margaret M. Donovan, and Priya Rashid served as judge advocates in the US Coast Guard, US Army, and US Army, respectively. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has a problem with the law: He doesn’t believe he has a duty to follow it, notwithsta

By Dan Maurer Originally published by Just Security here The following hypothetical legal memorandum imagines what the General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Defense would advise the Secretary of Defense immediately following the SecDef’s remarks on March 13, 2026, in which he appeared to suggest that U.S. forces would deny “quarter” to Iranian combatants during Operation Epic Fury. The memorandum presumes that Secretary Hegseth did not know what “no quarter” means under

By Eugene R. Fidell , Steven J. Lepper and William D. Baumgartner Originally published by JustSecurity here Now in its second year, the Trump administration continues to set new records for legal controversy, much of which surrounds the president. Controversy has also swirled around Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, and Kristi Noem, who was recently fired as Secretary of Homeland Security. The three have something in common: they are all among those official positions

By Daniel Maurer , Steven J. Lepper , Eugene R. Fidell , Alberto J. Mora and Franklin D. Rosenblatt Originally published here This “operational legal review” is the third in a series of essays examining the legal basis for current or potential future U.S. military operations. This is not an official legal review ; however, the format and analysis are representative of the legal advice that judge advocates (uniformed lawyers) provide commanders when advising on the lawfulness

16 January 2026 FOURTH MEMORANDUM TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND STAFF FROM: The Former Judge Advocates Working Group SUBJECT: Invading Greenland Just as we did when we served in uniform, our group of former and retired judge advocates works alongside many distinguished civilian lawyers whose own honorable government service contributed greatly to our national security. Today, we are proud and pleased to oRer the thoughts of one of our advisor-members, The Honorable Alberto J. Mo

Congress must clarify 'unlawful orders' to safeguard military integrity amidst rising tensions and unclear directives.