S.Amdt. 3856

SA 3856. Mrs. GILLIBRAND submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 2792, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2022 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place in title V, insert the following:

SEC. __. RANDOMIZING SELECTION OF COURT-MARTIAL PANEL MEMBERS.

(a) Detail of Panel Members.--Section 825(e)(2) of title 10, United States Code (article 25(e)(2) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice) is amended to read as follows:

“(2) When convening a court-martial, the convening authority shall use a randomized selection process to detail as members thereof such members of the armed forces as are qualified for duty by reason of availability. No member of an armed force is eligible to serve as a member of a general or special court-martial when the member is the accuser or a witness for the prosecution or has acted as preliminary hearing officer or as counsel in the same case.”.

(b) Randomized Selection Process.--

(1) Randomized selection process.--The Secretary of Defense shall promulgate policy and guidance that develops and implements a system for the randomized selection of qualified personnel available to the convening authority for detail to court-martial panels.

(2) Elements.--The randomized selection process developed and implemented under paragraph (1) may include parameter controls that--

(A) allow for exclusions based on scheduling availability; and

(B) allow for controls based on military rank.

(3) Qualified personnel defined.--In this subsection, the term “qualified personnel” means a person eligible to serve as a court-martial panel member in accordance with subsections (a) through (c) of section 825 of title 10, United States Code (article 25 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice).

(c) Manual for Courts-martial.--The Secretary of Defense shall recommend such changes to the Manual for Courts-Martial as are necessary to ensure compliance with this section.

(d) Effective Date.--The President shall prescribe regulations implementing this section not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act.