Judge Advocate General has gone 3 years without filing reports to Def Minister

[tomahawk6]

Fix it and move on.

 

[Wolseleydog]

FJAG: Serious  question for you -- why not simply submit reports that consisted of the content that *could* be generated within the reasonable amount of time that could be budgeted towards that work, perhaps including a statement explaining the inability to produce greater detail?

That strikes me as the obvious solution.  It meets the letter of the law, and at the very least gets formally on the record the JAG's position that more was not possible.

Just curious.

 

[FJAG]

FJAG: Serious  question for you -- why not simply submit reports that consisted of the content that *could* be generated within the reasonable amount of time that could be budgeted towards that work, perhaps including a statement explaining the inability to produce greater detail?

That strikes me as the obvious solution.  It meets the letter of the law, and at the very least gets formally on the record the JAG's position that more was not possible.

Just curious.

Not really sure but I can offer this. I worked within JAG headquarters full time from summer 06 to summer 09 when three of these reports were being generated. I recall that each time there was a tremendous push on by DLaw/MJP&R to get stats in to review and finalize the reports etc all while doing the other things they had to do. In each case the reports were still behind and when I left in 09 the one for the previous year or so still hadn't been finalized.

My business analyst and I met with them several times to define what their business cycle was in order to try to formulate a computerized system to assist with gathering and reporting the information. My recollection was that there was a very great emphasis being put on the accuracy of the report. This material was going to the Minister and Parliament and it was absolutely critical that there be no errors in it - delay was acceptable (if undesirable) while accuracy absolutely had to be there.

Both DMP and DDCS had their own independent systems for recording CMs (which did not interface and had discrepancies between the data) DLaw/MJP&R had their own database for Summary Trials based on the data forwarded to them by the AJAGs and Command LAs (here there were holes in the data and mismatches as well). Much of their work was error checking and follow up. There were legal reasons for keeping these three systems separated and we were searching out a way to overcome the legal impediments.

We were trying to build a comprehensive system that allowed data to be entered at the lowest level and error checked on the way through. By the time I left that was only in a definition phase and I don't believe was ever completed within the timespan of the project.

There were some good people working within the JAG's Information Systems cell but there was unfortunately a constant turnover which made maintaining the old legacy systems difficult. (This project was my first major in depth experience with the civil service career progression and hiring system and IMHO the entire thing is seriously broken - as is capital equipment acquisition)

:cheers:

 

[barrister4sale]

The issue was simply procedural. But the Leftist critics delved too much on the substantive thereby presuming wrongdoing. Presumption of innocence! (I got only 2 years of law school so rebuttable)

 

[Transporter]

The issue was simply procedural. But the Leftist critics delved too much on the substantive thereby presuming wrongdoing. Presumption of innocence! (I got only 2 years of law school so rebuttable)

It is written in law. We are all duty bound to comply with laws, none more so than the JAG I should think. It is significantly more than "simply procedural". Whether the report is a waste of time or not is not JAG's decision to make. (I have 0 years of law school and I'm not interested in a rebuttal).

 

[Tibbson]

I notice Sec 9.3(2) states that the JAG "shall" report to the Minister annually.  Sec 9.3(3) goes on to say the Minister "shall" table the report within the first 15 days of Parliament sitting after the Minister recieves it.  Interesting how the politicians left themselves a way out but as others have said, they either didn't miss the reports, didn't care about them or they overlooked them and never bothered to ask. 

If the Minister forget about them and never asked where they were then obviously they were not that important.  If the Minister asked about them then I'm sure he was given an answer that satisfied him otherwise he would have told the JAG in no uncertain terms to get them submitted.  In any event, while the optics suck I see this more as a tempest in a teapot seized upon by those with a axe to grind or a name to make politically or otherwise.  I go back to Mr Drapeau, a lawyer with a stated mission to take down the military justice system and the MP.  He states he was waiting for the reports so he can finish his next book so why didnt he kick up a fuss two years ago when the first reports deadline was missed?