The rules for court martials are changing. It sure would be nice to know exactly how.

An executive order issued by President Barack Obama on Aug. 31 declared that the Manual for Courts-Martial was being amended in certain ways, which were said to be spelled out in an "annex" attached to the executive order. The annex itself, though, is not public; at least, so far.

Suits & Sentences conceived the notion that the revisions might have something to do with Don't Ask Don't Tell. That was a short-lived notion, but it prompted a question to a White House spokesman, who said said last week the annex would be made public in due time in the Federal Register.

The Government Security News on Tuesday makes note of the court martial changes, and suggests that the actual revisions are still classified. GSN further notes that the main stream media has ignored the changes, which is not surprising, though at least one blog called emptywheel has taken note.

The executive order states the changes are to Part II and Part IV of the courts-martial manual. This is no help at all. The manual is 980 pages long. Suits & Sentences is also confused, as usual; there does not appear to be any such section as Part II or Part IV; rather, the manual is divided by Chapter, Section and Rule.