Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
Stars & Stripes and others are reporting that:
DoD is starting to announce new policies that may go into effect because of the inquiry into Major Hasan. I expect two will cause some heartburn:
More restrictive policy regarding weapons on base, including in quarters. I expect there will an initial uptick in Second Amendment related complaints.
More access to medical and mental health records for commanders. While I understand the motivations for a policy of greater commander access, I expect this may have a dampening effect on people seeking help, unless there is some built in privilege to the disclosures.
There is still a stigma attached to people who seek mental health counseling, so there is a reluctance to get help, especially at an early stage when the help might do the most good. An effect is the suicide rate for people who didn’t seek help but who might of sought help if they knew their records were protected and they weren’t going to get court-martialed.