Overview
- An internal February document called “Operation Resolute Justice” was disclosed in reporting Saturday and directs Army coordination with the Federal Bureau of Prisons to move condemned service members to the federal execution facility in Terre Haute, Indiana.
- The plan orders multiple Army components to prepare to facilitate executions no later than 150 days after any presidential approval and sets procedures for meetings, check-ins and media access to witness executions.
- The Army says planning exercises for executions have been routine for about 20 years and that it has not received a specific order from the president to carry out any execution.
- The Justice Department has recently moved to expand and speed federal execution methods, including authorizing options such as firing squads, and the president signed an order directing a renewed federal push on capital punishment.
- By law military death sentences can be imposed by courts-martial but cannot be carried out without presidential approval, a requirement that makes any move toward execution likely to produce litigation, political dispute and direct consequences for the four inmates and victims’ families.