Eight months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the Air Force’s top lawyer, the judge advocate general tasked with those duties has stepped down. No one has yet been nominated to permanently fill either of the service’s top legal jobs.
Maj. Gen. Rebecca Vernon, who had served as deputy Air Force JAG since 2022, became acting JAG after Hegseth’s Feb. 21 announcement that he was firing Lt. Gen. Charles Plummer. Vernon’s last day on the job was Sunday and her retirement date is set for January 1, 2026, Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek said.
Vernon, who joined the Air Force in 1996, has received several awards and decorations for her service and legal expertise, including the 2019 Air Force Association’s award for outstanding senior judge attorney, according to her service biography.
Reached by phone, Vernon declined to comment on her departure.
For now, at least, the role of acting Air Force JAG will be handled by Maj. Gen. Mitchel Neurock, who had served as Vernon’s and Plummer’s mobilization assistant. Neurock was appointed by Air Force Secretary Troy Meink, Stefanek said in an emailed statement.
The judge advocate general of each military service—TJAG for short—must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. A former Air Force lawyer said the lack of a Senate-confirmed TJAG leaves the branch’s legal officers in limbo.
“It’s tough to make any long-term plans without that position filled,” the lawyer said. “We’re in the middle of assignment season and the TJAG makes those decisions. There’s a ripple effect throughout the [JAG] Corps that hurts morale, retention, budgets, hiring, and every major policy decision.”
The services are missing more than their top JAGs: the Pentagon has also been sending lower-level lawyers to the Justice Department to serve as temporary immigration judges.
This has raised concerns among legal experts. Margy O’Herron, a senior fellow in the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program, wrote in September that the administration’s plan will pull JAGs “away from the important work they are trained and assigned to do, risking military readiness.”
Earlier this year, Hegseth said he fired the Air Force and Army TJAGs because they were “roadblocks to orders that are given by a commander in chief.”
JAGs often provide guidance to commanders and navigate them through U.S. and international laws relevant to military operations. John Richardson, a retired Navy officer and former chief of naval operations, praised the expertise JAGs offer the military at a Center For New American Security think tank event earlier this month.
“I always wanted to have a very professional and knowledgeable and capable JAG corps,” Richardson said. “They need to win their case for the service and advise commanders how to do their jobs.”
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