Military Defense Investigation Knowledge Base

Welcome to the UCMJ Investigations Knowledge Base

The UCMJ Investigations Knowledge Base is a growing library of Authority Publications written by veteran military defense investigator Michael West.

Each publication addresses a specific investigative issue encountered in courts-martial, administrative actions, security clearance matters, military defense preparation, and independent investigations. Rather than providing legal advice, these publications explain investigative principles, practical strategies, and real-world considerations that help attorneys, investigators, service members, and families better understand how evidence is developed and evaluated.

Every publication includes a downloadable PDF, and many include a companion video that expands on the topic.

As additional Authority Publications are released, they will automatically appear in the Knowledge Base below.

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Search across all Authority Publications and UCMJ Investigations blog articles.

Authority Publications

  1. DI-001 – UCMJ Investigations – The Genesis
  2. DI-002 – Can the Defense Conduct Its Own Investigation After the Government Investigation Is Finished
  3. DI-003 – What Does an Independent Military Defense Investigator Actually Do?
  4. DI-004 – Government Investigation vs. Defense Investigation
  5. DI-005 – When Should I Hire an Independent Military Defense Investigator?
  6. DI-006 – What Information Should I Bring When Meeting With a Defense Investigator
  7. DI-007 – What Happens During a Defense Investigation?
  8. DI-008 – Why Witness Interviews Often Change
  9. DI-009 – The Difference Between Facts, Assumptions, and Opinions
  10. DI-010 – Why Small Details Matter in an Investigation
  11. DI-011 – Why Independent Investigations Often Reach Different Conclusions.
  12. DI-012 – Why You Should Never Talk to Investigators.
  13. DI-013 – Why Small Details Often Solve Big Cases
  14. DI-014 – Why the First Investigation Is Rarely the Last Investigation
  15. DI-015 – Why Witness Interviews Should Never Be Considered Finished
  16. DI-016 – Why Good Investigators Verify Facts Instead of Assuming Them
  17. DI-017 – An Investigation Is Only as Good as Its Documentation
  18. DI-018 – Witnesses Are Often Wrong Without Intending to Be
  19. DI-019 – Every Investigation Begins with the Right Questions
  20. DI-020 – Evidence vs. Proof: Why the Difference Matters in Military Investigations
  21. DI-021 – How Investigators Turn Small Details into Strong Evidence
  22. DI-022 – Never Fall in Love with a Theory
  23. DI-023 – Recognizing What Others Overlook
  24. DI-024 – Why Every Military Defense Case Deserves an Independent Investigation
  25. DI-025 – What Happens When Investigators Get Tunnel Vision
  26. DI-026 – Why The Best Investigators Listen More Than They Talk.
  27. DI-027 – The First Interview Is Usually the Most Important
  28. DI-028 – Every Investigation Tells a Story
  29. DI-029 – Credibility Is Built One Fact at a Time
  30. DI-030 – The Difference Between Facts, Assumptions, and Conclusions
  31. DI-031 – The Witness Who Says “I Don’t Remember”
  32. DI-032 – Every Case Leaves a Digital Trail
  33. DI-033 — Why Investigators Build Timelines Before Drawing Conclusions
  34. DI-034 — What Makes a Witness Credible?
  35. DI-035 – When Should the Defense Re-Interview a Witness?
  36. DI-036 — Why Timelines Solve Investigations
  37. DI-037 — The Importance of Corroborating Evidence
  38. DI-038 — Recognizing Deception Without Guessing
  39. DI-039 — Preserving Evidence Before It Disappears
  40. DI-040 — Photographs Are Evidence Too
  41. DI-041 — Chain of Custody Explained
  42. DI-042 — The Value of Negative Evidence
  43. DI-043 — What Missing Evidence Can Tell You
  44. DI-044 — When Documents Tell a Different Story
  45. DI-045 — Preparing for an Article 32 Investigation
  46. DI-046 — Working With Your Military Defense Attorney
  47. DI-047 — Common Mistakes Service Members Make
  48. DI-048 — Why Independent Investigations Continue
  49. DI-049 — Building the Defense Before Trial
  50. DI-050 — Understanding Government Investigative Reports
  51. DI-051 — The Investigator’s Notebook
  52. DI-052 — Why Assumptions Destroy Cases
  53. DI-053 — Listening Is an Investigator’s Skill
  54. DI-054 — Why Experience Matters
  55. DI-055 — The Real Cost of Tunnel Vision
  56. DI-056 — Reconstructing the Scene: Understanding What Actually Happened
  57. DI-057 — The Alibi Is Only the Beginning
  58. DI-058 — Digital Evidence Has a Timeline of Its Own
  59. DI-059 — What Cell Phone Records Can – and Cannot – Prove
  60. DI-060 – Social Media Is Evidence, Not the Whole Story
  61. DI-061 — Metadata: The Evidence Behind the Evidence
  62. DI-062 — Surveillance Video Does Not Always Show the Whole Truth
  63. DI-063 — Testing an Account Against the Physical Evidence
  64. DI-064 — Motive Is Not Evidence of Guilt
  65. DI-065 — Opportunity: Could the Event Have Happened as Alleged?
  66. DI-066 – The Importance of Testing Alternative Explanations
  67. DI-067 – Investigating the Evidence That Supports the Accused
  68. DI-068 – When Witness Statements Conflict
  69. DI-069 – Memory Changes: Why Later Statements May Be Different
  70. DI-070 – Witness Contamination: When One Account Influences Another
  71. DI-071 – Prior Statements Matter
  72. DI-072 – Records Can Establish What Memory Cannot
  73. DI-073 – The Investigative Value of Location Evidence
  74. DI-074 – Travel Time Can Change an Investigation
  75. DI-075 – Reading Forensic Reports Critically
  76. DI-076 – When Does the Defense Need an Expert?
  77. DI-077 – The Difference Between an Investigator and an Expert Witness
  78. DI-078 – Finding the Source of a Fact
  79. DI-079 – One Error Can Spread Through an Entire Investigation
  80. DI-080 – The Final Investigative Review: What Have We Missed?
  81. DI-081 – The Defense Counsel’s First 72 Hours
  82. DI-082 — Preservation Letters for Social Media, Cloud, Telecommunications, and Third-Party Digital Records
  83. DI-083 — Reading an OSI, CID, or NCIS Report of Investigation for Omissions and Unsupported Conclusions
  84. DI-084 – Using a Defense Investigator as a Consulting Witness or as a Testifying Witness
  85. DI-085 – Protecting Attorney Work Product and Privilege During a Defense Investigation
  86. DI-086 – Concurrent Civilian and Military Investigations: Coordinating Evidence Across Jurisdictions
  87. DI-087 – Command-Directed Investigations and Their Impact on Later Administrative or Criminal Proceedings
  88. DI-088 – Investigating Alleged Violations of Military Protective Orders and No-Contact Orders
  89. DI-089 – Reconstructing an Article 120 Allegation Using Phones, Access Records, Receipts, and Location Data
  90. DI-090 – Understanding the Investigative Limits of Sexual Assault Forensic Examination Evidence
  91. DI-091 – Developing Evidence for a Military Rule of Evidence 412 Motion
  92. DI-092 – Investigating Collateral Sources of Evidence When M.R.E. 513 or M.R.E. 514 Is Implicated
  93. DI-093 – Challenging Suggestive or Contaminated Eyewitness Identification Procedures
  94. DI-094 – Using Cell-Site Data, GPS, Vehicle Telematics, and Fitness Trackers to Test an Alleged Timeline
  95. DI-095 – Authenticating Screenshots and Determining Whether a Digital Conversation Is Complete
  96. DI-096 – Recovering Deleted or Ephemeral Messages and Identifying Available Cloud Backups
  97. DI-097 – Detecting AI-Generated, Deepfake, or Digitally Manipulated Evidence in a Military Case
  98. DI-098 – Investigating Urinalysis Cases: Collection Errors, Laboratory Records, and Innocent-Ingestion Claims
  99. DI-099 – Understanding DNA Mixtures, Transfer, and Statistical Claims from a Defense Perspective (UPDATED)
  100. DI-100 – Selecting and Preparing Defense Experts Under Military Rule of Evidence 702
  101. DI-101 – Tracing Financial Records in Larceny, Fraud, and False Official Statement Allegations
  102. DI-102 – Conducting Defense Investigations Overseas: Witnesses, Translators, and Host-Nation Records
  103. DI-103 – Evaluating Anonymous Complaints, Confidential Sources, and Uncorroborated Tips
  104. DI-104 – Building a Sentencing and Mitigation Investigation Before Plea Negotiations or Trial
  105. DI-105 – Investigating Newly Discovered Evidence and Post-Trial Claims After a Court-Martial
  106. DI-106 – Article 31 Rights Warnings: Determining Who Had to Warn, When, and Why
  107. DI-107 – Challenging a Search Authorization Based on Omissions, Misstatements, or Stale Information
  108. DI-108 – Consent Searches in Military Cases: Scope, Withdrawal, and Documentation
  109. DI-109 – Compelled Device Access: Passcodes, Biometrics, and the Evidence Created by Unlocking a Phone
  110. DI-110 – Building a Defense Discovery Audit Under Article 46, Brady, and Giglio
  111. DI-111 – Investigating Government Witness Bias, Benefits, Prior Misconduct, and Motive to Cooperate
  112. DI-112 – Lost, Destroyed, or Uncollected Evidence: Reconstructing What Happened and Why It Matters
  113. DI-113 – Auditing Body-Worn Camera Evidence for Missing Segments, Activation Gaps, and Context
  114. DI-114 – Using Installation Gate Records, CAC Access Logs, and Building-Entry Data in a Defense Investigation
  115. DI-115 – Recorded Calls as Evidence: Recovering Context from Jail Calls, Command Calls, and Personal Recordings
  116. DI-116 – Attributing a Social-Media Account When Devices, Passwords, or Profiles Are Shared
  117. DI-117 – Validating a Government Digital-Forensic Extraction Instead of Relying Only on the Examiner’s Report
  118. DI-118 – Time Zones, Clock Drift, and Timestamp Errors That Can Distort a Military Case Timeline
  119. DI-119 – Testing the Authenticity and Completeness of Audio Evidence and Identifying the Speaker
  120. DI-120 – Investigating Disputed Signatures, Altered Forms, and Questionable Notarizations
  121. DI-121 — Polygraphs in Military Investigations: What They Can Influence Even When Results Are Not Admissible
  122. DI-122 – Investigating a Suspected False Confession or Contaminated Admission
  123. DI-123 – Cooperating Witnesses and Informants: Documenting Benefits, Pressure, and Incentives
  124. DI-124 – Interpreters, Translations, and Cultural Context: Preventing Meaning from Being Lost in an Investigation
  125. DI-125 – Evaluating Child Forensic Interviews for Suggestion, Repetition, and Source Contamination
  126. DI-126 – Investigating Competing Accounts in Domestic-Violence and Mutual-Combat Allegations
  127. DI-127 – Connecting Medical Findings to the Alleged Event Without Overstating What the Records Prove
  128. DI-128 – Toxicology Evidence in Alcohol- and Drug-Related Cases: Timing, Dosage, and Alternative Explanations
  129. DI-129 – Firearms, Toolmarks, and Gunshot Residue: Questions Defense Counsel Should Ask Before Accepting the Conclusion
  130. DI-130 – Accident Reconstruction in Military Criminal Cases: Vehicles, Training Events, and Workplace Incidents
  131. DI-131 – Investigating Fire and Arson Allegations When the Scene Has Already Changed
  132. DI-132 – Attributing Computer Activity in Cases Involving Shared Systems, Remote Access, or Stolen Credentials
  133. DI-133 – Investigating a Case Involving Classified Information Under Military Rule of Evidence 505
  134. DI-134 – Working Around Lawful Contact Restrictions While Investigating Evidence Held by an Alleged Victim
  135. DI-135 – Coordinating Evidence from Inspector General, Equal Opportunity, and Criminal Investigations
  136. DI-136 – Preparing an Investigative Case for an Administrative Separation Board
  137. DI-137 – Investigative Records That Affect Security-Clearance Decisions and How to Correct Factual Errors
  138. DI-138 – Comparing Line-of-Duty, Safety, Mishap, and Criminal Investigations of the Same Event
  139. DI-139 – Investigating Hazing Allegations: Group Dynamics, Digital Communications, and Unequal Participation
  140. DI-140 – Investigating Fraternization and Prohibited-Relationship Allegations Beyond Rank and Appearance
  141. DI-141 – Retaliation and Whistleblower Allegations: Building a Chronology of Knowledge, Motive, and Action
  142. DI-142 – Lawful Background Research on Potential Court-Martial Panel Members: Ethical Boundaries and Useful Facts
  143. DI-143 – Locating and Approaching Former Service Members, Reluctant Witnesses, and Witnesses Outside Military Control
  144. DI-144 – Obtaining Civilian Records and Witnesses for Trial Under Rule for Courts-Martial 703
  145. DI-145 – Prioritizing a Defense Investigation When Time and Funding Are Limited
  146. DI-146 – Writing an Investigative Memorandum That Helps Counsel Act Without Turning Leads into Conclusions
  147. DI-147 – Using Case Maps, Relationship Charts, and Demonstrative Timelines to Expose Evidentiary Gaps
  148. DI-148 – Testing Government Reenactments, Demonstrations, and Investigative Experiments for Realism
  149. DI-149 – Conducting a Scene Inspection After the Location Has Been Cleaned, Repaired, or Reconfigured
  150. DI-150 – Ethical Open-Source Intelligence: Preserving Web Evidence Without Alerting, Contacting, or Misidentifying the Subject
  151. DI-151 – The Evidence Locker May Be Your Best Friend

CHECK BACK OFTEN—NEW AUTHORITY PUBLICATIONS ARE ADDED EVERY FEW DAYS.

Available Soon: Our 3-book series for Defense Investigations of UCMJ Cases

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