by Ziva Branstetter

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.

More than two years after ProPublica sued the Navy over its failure to provide public access to military courts, the Department of Defense has for the first time directed U.S. military branches to give advance public notice of preliminary hearings, a crucial milestone in criminal cases.

These “Article 32” hearings end with a recommendation about whether the case should move forward, be dismissed or end in a nonjudicial punishment.

DOD General Counsel Caroline Krass issued the guidance earlier this year, directing the secretaries of the Navy, Army, Air Force and Homeland Security (which oversees the Coast Guard) to post upcoming preliminary hearings, provide access to certain court records and publish results of military trials — known as courts-martial — on a public website.

But legal experts say the new guidance falls short of the conditions laid out in a federal law requiring the military to dramatically increase public access to its justice system.

The military has long resisted opening its proceedings to the public. The 2016 law, passed after revelations about rampant sexual assault in the armed forces, instructs the DOD to develop policies similar to civilian courts that provide public access to “all stages of the military justice system.” The federal court system gives the public wide-ranging, real-time electronic access to hearing schedules and filings in all but the most sensitive criminal cases.

In contrast, the military typically withholds all court records while cases are active and keeps records secret indefinitely if a defendant is found not guilty. It also grants no public records access to cases in the preliminary hearing stage, including reports recommending whether cases should be dismissed or move forward to court-martial.

Experts say the lack of........

© ProPublica