The article argues that recent executive overreach and politicization have severely undermined established norms of U.S. civil-military relations. To restore professional standards, the incoming Congress must actively exercise its oversight powers, moving beyond mere criticism to demanding transparency in defense policy and personnel decisions. Key reforms include enforcing meritocratic promotion processes, requiring documented justification for senior officer removals, and preventing the partisan use of the military. These actions are crucial for bolstering public trust and ensuring the military remains a nonpartisan instrument of civilian control.
The Attorney General as Prison Executive
English Summary
The article argues that recent changes allowing the Attorney General to override the Bureau of Prisons' (BOP) standardized placement rules undermine due process by politicizing federal incarceration decisions. Previously, BOP used objective, bureaucratic assessments to assign inmates to facilities based on security needs; however, the new rule centralizes this power with a political official. The author warns that this shift risks allowing political favoritism—such as assigning allies to minimum-security prisons and opponents to maximum-security ones—replacing neutral administration with arbitrary executive judgment. Policy recommendations emphasize preserving decentralized, non-politicized administrative decision-making in criminal justice matters to maintain public trust and prevent abuse.
中文摘要
本文論述，近期允許檢察總長推翻監獄局（BOP）標準化安置規則的變動，透過將聯邦監禁決定政治化，從而損害了正當法律程序。過去，BOP曾使用客觀、官僚式的評估來根據安全需求為受刑人分配設施；然而，新規定將此權力集中到一位政治官員手中。作者警告說，這種轉變的風險在於可能允許出現政治偏袒——例如將盟友安置在最低安全級別監獄，而將政敵安置在最高安全級別監獄——取代了中立的行政管理，使其淪為任意的行政判斷。政策建議強調必須保留刑事司法事務中去中心化、非政治化的行政決策權力，以維持公眾信任並防止濫用。
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