Judge Advocate General's Corps

... we've gotta make sure we go to, to Iraq and Afghanistan, and this can be done at different levels.

Like Ron DeSantis, uh, was in the JAG Corps, which is, so this is the, well, the gu- Florida governor who's often talked about as a Republican possibility for president.

Um, he was in the JAG Corps, which basically means he was in law offices.

He was just sort of doing legal work.

Oh, okay.

People with experience are raising questions that make them unwanted in the Hegseth's Pentagon.

But I think the firing of the JAGs, the Judge Advocate General, sent a very chilling message because it said that we don't want the lawyers who actually have experience in guiding US soldiers in use of force, not so that we shy away from applying force legally and appropriately, but to make sure that the United States of all countries is upholding the rule of law that protects all of our troops, all of our service members, and all of our citizens around the world.

So that's the role of the JAG Corps.

Hegseth made a purge in the opening days.

That's why you rack.

Welcome to After the JAG Corps, navigating your career progression, a podcast for judge advocates leaving military service.

After the JAG Corps assists officers transitioning from the military law practice by learning from individuals who have successfully embarked on new careers, providing insight on rewarding professional opportunities, job search strategies, resumes, the value of your military experience, and more.

Now, here is your host, Tom Welsh.

Welcome to episode 183 of After the JAG Corps, Navigating Your Career Progression.

In this episode, I'm joined by Marcus Duffy, an attorney whose career has taken through two very different and remarkably complementary worlds of legal practice.

Marcus spent six years on active duty in the United States Air Force before transitioning to the Reserve and eventually the Air National Guard.

You know, I had to learn and get up to speed it's like I feel like any jag will tell you that they're always they're drinking from a water hose you're trying to figure things out, and so I figured like hey if I can figure that out.

[laughs]

And then next thing I know, you know, I fill out all the applications for the JAG Corps.

I do an interview.

I do all of this, and I'm off to Fort Lee.

Margaret Donovan, who's an attorney at Koskoff, Koskoff & Bider, visiting a clinical lecturer at the Yale School of Law and former assistant United States attorney for the District of Connecticut.

Army veteran and former captain in the Judge Advocate General Corps will be joining us at 7 o'clock.

Looking forward to talking with her about some of the moving pieces with SCOTUS and with other issues that are taking place right now in our legal system.

And then I had a chance to have a conversation with the comedy duo Frangela.

And the courts by then, by the time we came in, the Hamdan decision, the Mamidian decision, had established some boundary lines for us in which we knew how to operate.

On the issue of interrogation, the JAG Corps was very upset-

Judge Advocate General, the, the attorneys of the-

The JAG leadership was very upset about extracting statements taken by CID, cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment.

When, when I came into the Pentagon as the lawyer, my belief was that we needed to apply, for credibility's sake, we needed to apply traditional military law of war principles to an unconventional enemy, and that's what we did.

So we took on, accepted what we refer to as law of war detention, detention without charges, as long as the war existed, but here we are twenty-five years later, and the military commission system.

I was probably in the Obama administration the biggest proponent of keeping that system because the JAG Corps believed in it, and it, again, it was an application of traditional military principles.

But if you had told me fifteen, sixteen years later that they'd still be sitting there pre-trial, waiting, the, the nine eleven defendants, I was, I was supportive of sending them to Manhattan.