A Legal Opportunity to Hold Senior DOD Officials Accountable for the Wrongs Committed to Service Members

 

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Current and former service members are being encouraged to take civil action against Defense Department officials who have wronged them.

 o Lt. Col. Ryan Sweazey (USAF-Ret.), the founder of Walk the Talk Foundation (WTTF), an organization that advocates for and defends military whistleblowers. The organization is actively seeking current and former service members who were wronged by a senior Department of Defense(DOD) official (rank of O-5 (Lt. Colonel/Commander) or higher, or civil service member rank of GS-14 or higher, or member of the Senior Executive Service (SES)).

For those who were damaged, whether personally or with regard to their career, WTTF has provided a questionnaire that’s available online for those interested in being considered for selection to “Operation Military In-Justice,” Sweazey told The Gateway Pundit.

Image: Courtesy of Walk the Talk Foundation

“The overall aim is to explore options and avenues through which an individual member in the Department of Defense—whether a civilian, active-duty service member, or a former service member—can get a fair shake [after being wronged],” Sweazey shared.

“Right now, processes involving the Inspector General (IG), Equal Opportunity (EO) office, or Article 138 complaints through the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) are a farce, and the likelihood of achieving actual redress through them is very low.”

Sweazey stated there are “a lot of barriers” for service members who wish to seek redress for being wronged by the military. For example, service members are prohibited by the Feres Doctrine from suing the U.S. Government over injuries occurring while on active duty. Further, the Westfall Act offers protection to current and former federal employees from common law tort lawsuits. “In these cases,” he said, “the United States would be the de facto defendant, while the actual alleged wrongdoer would be again insulated by the government from true accountability.”

To overcome these hurdles, Sweazey said, “the Foundation is looking for ways to hold people accountable to help provide individuals true justice, which would be a massive departure from what they’re being offered now.” According to him, “there’s a gap which exists [that might help]” and that gap is where a civil suit is not prohibited by the Feres Doctrine and the government is not obligated to represent the defendant via the Westfall Act, he explained.

“This [civil action] is what we’re trying to explore and exploit for current and especially former service members to try and hold those senior leaders who have wronged them accountable,” he said. While it appears to be a viable option for some, he warned, “the suit has to be filed within the statute of limitations for the state in which the wrongdoing took place, further limiting the opportunity for real justice.”

Interestingly, in an article published by Real Clear Defense, Dr. Chase Spears suggests that the overturning of the Chevron Doctrine may provide the means to challenge the Feres Doctrine. He also pointed out that “in a rare moment of judicial sanity, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Feres Doctrine does not prevent a military member from suing another military member for committing sexual assault, the judges noting that “we are confident in our determination that this act of alleged sexual assault was not incident to military service.”

With regard to the case mentioned by Dr. Spears, Sweazey pointed out that “the Government attempted to invoke the Feres Doctrine and Westfall Act, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California said that sexually assaulting a subordinate is not in the course of performance of official duties, allowing her to pursue the case.”

Sweazey considers Spletstoser v. Hyten “the hallmark case” that affords current and former service members the opportunity to pursue civil suits against former senior officials and “have a chance of winning.”