2023 Amendments to the Manual for Courts-Martial, United States
The order amends the Manual for Courts-Martial — the rulebook governing military justice proceedings — through three separate sets of changes, each with a different effective date tied either to the signing date or to specific provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022.
What this order does
What it orders
The order amends the Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, which is the comprehensive procedural and substantive guide for military criminal proceedings. It does so through three annexes: Annex 1 amends Parts II through V and takes effect on the signing date; Annex 2 amends Parts I through V and Appendix 12A, with an effective date set by section 539C of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022; and Annex 3 adds three new appendices (12B, 12C, and 12D) and amends Part II, taking effect December 27, 2023, in accordance with section 539E(f) of the same act.
All three annexes include explicit non-retroactivity protections: no amendment makes punishable any act that was lawful when committed, and no ongoing military justice proceeding — including nonjudicial punishment, preliminary hearings, or trials where arraignment has already occurred — is invalidated by the new rules. Those proceedings continue under the rules in effect when they began. The specific substantive content of each annex was published only in image format and is not available as text in this document.
Who it affects
Active-duty military service members, military judges, trial counsel, defense counsel, and commanding officers who conduct or participate in courts-martial proceedings or nonjudicial punishment actions under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Why it matters
Changes to the Manual for Courts-Martial directly shape how military criminal cases are investigated, charged, tried, and sentenced. Service members facing charges — and their defense counsel — must follow the rules in the version of the Manual that was in effect when their case began.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
The three annexes take effect on staggered dates: Annex 1 immediately on signing, Annex 2 on a date set by Congress in the NDAA FY 2022, and Annex 3 on December 27, 2023. Each annex carries a savings clause that preserves the prior rules for all proceedings already underway at the relevant effective date, preventing disruption to active cases. No agency reporting chain is specified; the order amends the Manual directly by presidential authority.
Actions and deadlines
- Annex 1 amendments to Parts II–V of the Manual for Courts-Martial take effect
- Annex 3 additions and amendments, including new Appendices 12B, 12C, and 12D, take effect