Is it true that commanders are losing UCMJ authority over military sexual assault cases and military domestic violence cases?

A: Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, announced on June 22, 2021, that he supports what is being called a seismic shift in the UCMJ that takes away commander’s control from both sexual assault cases and domestic violence cases in the military. He is the first Secretary of Defense to take this stance, despite a growing movement to create a civilian led prosecution office in the last decade. On May 6, 2021, the Army announced that their main military investigations body, Army Criminal Investigative Command (CID) will no longer be headed by a military General Officer. Instead, Army CID will be led by a civilian director. We predict that military prosecutions will soon be headed by a civilian figurehead as well.