Military Commissions - 'This is Really Not a Good Topic for a Paper on the Interagency Process', or Is It

摘要

This paper will discuss both the policy and process behind the decision to order military commissions. It will first examine the authority for military commissions. It will next examine the authority of the President to alone order the commissions, concluding that the President had the authority to act alone, a conclusion that likely colored the administration's approach to the interagency process. It will next identify the other policy options available to the administration and the rationale behind the decision to choose military commissions. The paper will then turn to the process. It will examine the response-in fact criticism-to the initial approach taken by the Executive branch. Then, it will examine the evolution of military commissions and the interagency process from the original policy decision to the development of the implementing procedures, ultimately concluding that the interagency process played a much more significant role in the latter.