Speakers at the afternoon CMR Issues Briefing were exceptionally informative on a variety of current issues. Conversations sparked by their presentations carried over to the reception immediately following on the top floor of the Reserve Officers Association Building.

Former Marine officer and attorney Adam Mersereau, the author of several articles published by National Review Online (NRO), discussed the readiness of America’s armed forces after years of budget cuts, operational stress, and demoralization during the past decade. He also called for an all-out effort to combine America’s superior technology with the will to build a larger force capable of deterring the most horrendous possibilities, including nuclear war.

Fred Gedrich, Senior Policy Analyst of Freedom Alliance, stressed the importance of protecting American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines from legal jeopardy under the newly formed International Criminal Court (ICC). In 2002 Gedrich worked closely with members of Congress and the Bush Administration to pass the Servicemembers Protection Act, and to rescind the 11th hour signature of former President Bill Clinton on the ICC Treaty. Even without the consent of the United States, robed justices of the ICC in the Hague, chosen in secret without any accountability to the U.S. Constitution or even the United Nations, could interfere with American foreign and defense policies by means of selective, politically motivated prosecutions.

Frank Gaffney, influential head of the Center for Security Policy (CSP), discussed a wide range of current defense issues, including the need to start building missile defenses following the Bush Administration’s welcome decision to withdraw from the 1972 ABM Treaty. Gaffney also discussed the current military buildup, and the risks of relying on Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Kim Jong Il of North Korea to keep their promises.

After a lively Q & A session, Gaffney surprised Elaine Donnelly with a beautifully framed photo of her together with CSP’s 2002 “Keeper of the Flame” honoree, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Vice-Chief Gen. Peter Pace, USMC, and their wives. Barbara Woodbury of San Diego, a long-time friend of CMR, took the photo at the CSP dinner last fall.

Two representatives of CMR’s Legal Team, Kent Masterson Brown and Frank Northam of Webster, Chamberlain and Bean, explained reasons why U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth dismissed the libel/defamation case filed against CMR by former F-14 pilot Carey Lohrenz and her feminist attorney, Susan Barnes, in 1996.

As predicted by CMR from the beginning, Plaintiff Lohrenz was found to be a “limited purpose public figure” and therefore not eligible to sue. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right of individuals and organizations such as CMR to freely discuss persons who are involved in controversies of public importance.

After more than six years of harassment litigation, Lohrenz and Barnes also were unable to prove allegations that Donnelly had acted with “actual malice;” i.e., the intent of causing Lohrenz to wash out of carrier aviation. Training records and several Navy investigations indicated that Lohrenz was failing long before Donnelly published the CMR Special Report: Double Standards in Naval Aviation in April 1995.

Attorneys Brown and Northam explained key details of the Lamberth opinion, and predicted that its logic is so sound that that will not be overturned by the appeal filed by Lohrenz in October. Documents filed by both parties will be considered by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which will decide either to uphold the Lamberth opinion, or grant the Plaintiff’s petition for a jury trial.

NOTE:

Tax deductible contributions to the CMR Legal Defense Fund (CMR/LDF) may be made through this website (click on "Contributions") or by mail at this address: CMR/LDF, P. Box 51600, Livonia, Michigan 48151.  Thank you very much.