The appeals court could take three months to a year to decide whether the case against retired Air Force Gen. John Hyten, the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will proceed.
The Air Force could have prevented a former airman from buying a weapon and committing a mass shooting last year had investigators followed proper protocol. Now the Pentagon is reviewing other service's compliance with the law.
An Air Force officer with top security clearance who vanished 35 years ago and was arrested in California last week worked for years as a consultant for the University of California system, former colleagues said.