123STA T . 22 78PUBLIC LA W 111 – 8 4—O CT. 28 , 2 0 0 9toinv o lu nt arysep aration or retire m ent d uetop h ysi c al disa b ility .S uch active service shall be counted in computin g the years o f active service of the officer for all other purposes. ’ ’. SEC.506 . IND E P ENDEN TR E V IE WOFJU D G E A DVOCATE RE Q UIRE -M ENTS OF T H E DEPARTMENT OF THE NAV Y . ( a )INDEP ENDEN TPA NE LFORR E VI E W . — ( 1 ) ES TA B LIS HM ENT.— T here is hereby established an inde - pendent panel to revie w the j udge advocate re q uirements of the D epartment of the N avy. ( 2 ) C OMPOSITION.—The panel shall be composed of five members , appointed by the Secretary of Defense from among private U nited States citi z ens who have e x pertise in law, mili- tary manpower policies, the missions of the A rmed F orces, or the current responsibilities of judge advocates in ensuring competent legal representation and advice to commanders. ( 3 ) CHAIR.—The chair of the panel shall be appointed by the Secretary from among the members of the panel appointed under paragraph (2). ( 4 ) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT
VA C ANCIES.— M embers shall be appointed for the life of the panel. Any vacancy in the panel shall be filled in the same manner as the original appoint- ment. ( 5 ) DEADLINE FOR APPOINTMENTS.—All original appoint- ments to the panel shall be made not later than 1 80 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. ( 6 ) MEETIN G S.—The panel shall meet at the call of the chair. ( 7 ) FIRST MEETING.—The chair shall call the first meeting of the panel not later than 60 days after the date of the appointment of all the members of the panel. (b) D U TIES.— (1) IN GENERAL.—The panel established under subsection (a) shall carry out a study of the policies and management and organizational practices of the Navy and Marine Corps with respect to the responsibilities, assignment, and career development of judge advocates for purposes of determining the number of judge advocates required to fulfill the legal mission of the Department of the Navy. (2) REVIEW.—In carrying out the study required by para- graph (1), the panel shall— (A) review the emergent operational law requirements of the Navy and Marine Corps, including requirements for judge advocates on joint tas k forces, in support of rule of law objectives in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in oper- ational units; ( B ) review new requirements to support the O ffice of Military Commissions and to support the disability evaluation system for members of the Armed Forces; (C) review the judge advocate requirements of the Department of the Navy for the military justice mission, including assignment policies, training and education, increasing complexity of court-martial litigation, and the performance of the Navy and Marine Corps in providing legally sufficient post-trial processing of cases in general courts-martial and special courts-martial; Deadlin e .
