Skip to main content
USNI Logo USNI Logo USNI Logo
Donate
  • Cart
  • Join or Log In
  • Search

Main navigation

  • About Us
  • Membership
  • Books & Press
  • USNI News
  • Proceedings
  • Naval History
  • Archives
  • Events
  • Donate
USNI Logo USNI Logo USNI Logo
Donate
  • Cart
  • Join or Log In
  • Search

Main navigation (Sticky)

  • About Us
  • Membership
  • Books & Press
  • USNI News
  • Proceedings
  • Naval History
  • Archives
  • Events
  • Donate

Sub Menu

  • Essay Contests
    • About Essay Contests
    • Innovation for Sea Power
    • Marine Corps
    • Naval Intelligence
  • Current Issue
  • The Proceedings Podcast
  • American Sea Power Project
  • Contact Proceedings
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Media Inquiries
  • All Issues
The experience of combat is difficult to understand; investigations of U.S. military personnel involved in deadly force incidents should be fair and accurate. FBI investigations of line-of-duty shootings can provide a guide.
The experience of combat is difficult to understand; investigations of U.S. military personnel involved in deadly force incidents should be fair and accurate. FBI investigations of line-of-duty shootings can provide a guide.
U.S. Marine Corps (Laiqa Hitt)

Sub Menu

  • Essay Contests
    • About Essay Contests
    • Innovation for Sea Power
    • Marine Corps
    • Naval Intelligence
  • Current Issue
  • The Proceedings Podcast
  • American Sea Power Project
  • Contact Proceedings
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Media Inquiries
  • All Issues

There Are Better Ways to Investigate Our Own

By Colonel Steven “Randy” Watt and Lieutenant Colonel John Taylor, U.S. Army (Retired), and Lieutenant Colonel David G. Bolgiano, U.S. Air Force (Retired)
July 2020
Proceedings
Vol. 146/7/1,409
Now Hear This
View Issue
Comments

Since 2001, concern over civilian casualties has grown, and, as a result, U.S. military personnel are being investigated nearly every time they fire a shot in a combat zone. While it is legally and morally prudent to require accountability for the use of force, the current legal and investigatory standards for assessing such accountability are subjective at best. Misunderstanding the ethical, legal, and tactical realities of using deadly force creates false or misleading strategic issues with coalition partners and the international community and confusion and hesitation among U.S. military personnel, dramatically increasing risks at the tactical level. And it unnecessarily exposes U.S. forces to administrative and criminal liability.

In 2007, regarding charges stemming from an incident in Haditha, Iraq, then–Lieutenant General James Mattis wrote a two-page letter to a young Marine dismissing the charges against him.1 In part, General Mattis noted:

The experience of combat is difficult to understand intellectually and very difficult to appreciate emotionally. One of our Nation’s most articulate Supreme Court Justices, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., served as an infantryman during the Civil War and described war as an “incommunicable experience.” He has also noted elsewhere that “detached reflection cannot be demanded in the presence of an uplifted knife.”2

To protect U.S. service members and ensure effective combat performance, the military should study how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigates line-of-duty shootings. It is a fair and accurate process and would be more effective than simply assigning Manual of the Judge Advocate General Article 15-6 investigating officers or appointing an Article 32 investigating officer. Criminally focused investigations should be the last resort—and only in cases when criminal intent (not a bad result) has been demonstrated.

When an FBI special agent uses deadly force in self-defense, before he or she can be questioned, the agent must: (1) be allowed two full sleep cycles; (2) be assigned competent legal counsel who can help the agent articulate the pre-assaultive behaviors and facts leading to the use of force; and (3) be allowed to speak in confidence to a chaplain and a psychologist. This does not happen for U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, who often are questioned under oath shortly after incidents and without the benefit of counsel, rest, or moral support.

In addition, warriors need competent judge advocate assistance in clearly describing the pre-assaultive behaviors they observed in a firefight or engagement that justified the use of force. It is not enough merely to state, “I was in fear for my life,” because a coward may be in fear for his life without adequate provocation and a fool may never be. Establishing the facts that support a reasonable belief that an imminent threat under the rules of engagement was present requires more. The moral agency of our military personnel and units requires such a clear description and the ability to articulate it.

1. U.S. Marines Corps, U.S. Marine Forces Central Command, “Dismissal of Charge and Specifications in the Case of United States v. Lance Corporal Justin L. Sharratt,” 8 August 2007.

2. The quotes come from Holmes’ speech, “The Soldier’s Faith,” delivered on Memorial Day, 30 May 1895 to the graduating class of Harvard University, and from Brown v. United States, 256 U.S. 335, 343 (1921).

Colonel Steven Randy Watt

Colonel Watt served in the U.S. Army and the Utah Army National Guard for a total of 34 years, including wartime assignments as advanced operational base commander in east central Afghanistan and counterterrorism advisor to the Ministry of Interior, Baghdad. He currently is Chief of Police of the Ogden, Utah, Police Department.

More Stories From This Author View Biography

Lieutenant Colonel John Taylor, U.S. Army (Retired

Lieutenant Colonel Taylor served as an Army Judge Advocate for 22 years. His assignments included serving as Command Judge Advocate for the First Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (Delta Force), the 3d Special Forces Group (Airborne), and Task Force Bowie in Bagram, Afghanistan. After retiring from the Army, he became a law enforcement officer and currently serves as both a sworn officer and a police attorney.

More Stories From This Author View Biography

Lieutenant Colonel David G. Bolgiano, U.S. Air Force (Retired)

Lieutenant Colonel Bolgiano teaches and writes on the ethical, constitutional, and tactical dynamics of deadly force encounters and twice deployed to Afghanistan, Qatar, and Iraq as legal advisor to Commander, Special Operations Command Central, during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. He also is a retired law enforcement officer.

More Stories From This Author View Biography

Related Articles

U.S. Marine Corps (Rhita Daniel)
P Featured Article

Military Justice and the Role of the Convening Authority

By Lieutenant Colonel Kyle G. Phillips, U.S. Marine Corps
May 2020
Commanders must have the ability to use the court-martial system to ensure their units are well-disciplined, law-abiding, and ready to engage in combat.
Captain Crozier
Commentary

The Navy’s Monday-Morning Quarterback Investigation

By Brett G. Odom
June 2020
The Navy’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak on board the USS Theodore Roosevelt has been thoroughly consistent in its vacillation and incoherence.
Courtesy of Author
P Article

Innocent Until Investigated

By Commander J. Michael Dahm, U.S. Navy
April 2016
In its enthusiastic pursuit of justice for some, the military must not abandon its principles of fairness for all.

Quicklinks

Footer menu

  • About the Naval Institute
  • Books & Press
  • Naval History
  • USNI News
  • Proceedings
  • Oral Histories
  • Events
  • Naval Institute Foundation
  • Photos & Historical Prints
  • Advertise With Us
  • Naval Institute Archives

Receive the Newsletter

Sign up to get updates about new releases and event invitations.

Sign Up Now
Example NewsletterPrivacy Policy
USNI Logo White
Copyright © 2025 U.S. Naval Institute Privacy PolicyTerms of UseContact UsAdvertise With UsFAQContent LicenseMedia Inquiries
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
Powered by Unleashed Technologies
×

You've read 1 out of 5 free articles of Proceedings this month.

Non-members can read five free Proceedings articles per month. Join now and never hit a limit.