And just like that, a Bergdahl update

Breaking news in Bergdahl -- the convening authority referred his case to a general court-martial.  A general court-martial is the highest level of court-martial and can adjudge the full penalties authorized by the punitive statutes.  Here is the Washington Post report.

According to Bergdahl's lawyer, the preliminary hearing officer recommended that the convening authority refer the case to a special court martial, which is roughly equivalent to a misdemeanor court.  One of the unusual features of the military's preliminary hearing is that the hearing officer's findings and recommendations are not binding on the convening authority.  The convening authority can take it or leave it, and here, the convening authority left it.  This feature has been criticized but was not reformed in the latest revisions of the preliminary hearing -- partly because members of Congress thought hearing officers were often biased against victims in sexual assault cases and Congress did not want their "mistakes" to be binding.