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4. The MCM v. administrative matters
The principles of UCI fully apply to Articles and all courts-martial. Because this concept arises in the UCMJ, it is generally limited to procedures that are found in the UCMJ. Accusatory
UCI concepts generally do not apply to administrative proceedings like administrative separation boards. In fact, there are several regulations that include requirements for subordinates to initiate separation boards, GOMORs, or grade reduction boards. The Secretary of the Army can direct a subordinate to initiate a GOMOR or a separation board. However, the Secretary of the Army could not do the same fora court-martial or Article 15. Because tampering with an administrative proceeding is already a violation of the UCMJ, UCI generally does not apply to administrative proceedings.
5. What Are Things You Can Do That Are NOT UCI?
• Withhold authority over types of offenses, types of offenders, or certain commanders. Often, battalion commanders withhold drug offenses and certain types of assaults to their level, and often, commanding generals withhold the authority to deal with officer and senior NCO misconduct. Avery recent example is the withholding of the disposition of Sexual Assault cases to the Brigade Commander by Secretary of Defense Policy Memo (See Chapter 12).
• Reach down and take specific cases Send cases back down to subordinate commanders with the guidance to take any action, to include no action, in order to dispose of the case at their level. If you send a case back down to a subordinate, you cannot attach strings, as in, Ill let you handle this case provided you at least give X, Y, or Z.”
C. Problem Areas
1. Deployed Commander Communicating To Rear Detachment Com-
mander
Rear detachment commanders usually brief the forward commander on what is going on in detachment. That can be a problem when the rear commander briefs legal actions to the forward commander. The forward commander may give explicit instructions on what to do in cases, or there might be implicit approval of certain actions but not others. If you area rear detachment commander and you have UCMJ authority, you must exercise it independently from that forward commander. If your forward commander wants information on the legal actions in the rear unit, the best course of action is to have your Judge Advocate communicate that information. Your Judge Advocate will be vigilant toward the UCI concerns.

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