Justice Mark Weinberg is a former Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and Victorian Supreme Court judge.

As special investigator he will be responsible for assessing matters raised in a report by Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force Paul Brereton and referring briefs of evidence to the CDPP.

The office is being overseen by former attorney-general's department boss Chris Moraitis.

Former Queensland Police Service deputy commissioner Ross Barnett is director of investigations.

Justice Brereton, who led a four-year investigation into the allegations, has recommended 19 serving and former ADF members be prosecuted for 39 unlawful killings and the torture of two prisoners.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese says the federal opposition supports the Brereton report recommendations and will seek to ensure the investigation is properly resourced.

"We are certain that if any further resources are required, they should be requested and they should be granted, and I'm confident that the government would do that," Mr Albanese told reporters in Sydney on Monday.

Defence intelligence expert Clive Williams told AAP it was important that commanders be held accountable.

Mr Williams said special forces operated mainly in small autonomous groups, which gave them operational flexibility but at the same time made them less accountable.

"In this case, a relatively small number of SAS and commando NCOs abused the trust placed in them," he said.

"That said, it is also beholden on commanders to know what their troops are doing.

"If they know they are doing the wrong thing they should act.

"If they don't know what their troops are doing, they are not competent commanders. In both cases they should be held accountable."

Mr Williams said there were unlikely to be more than a few convictions stemming from the investigations, mainly because of the time elapsed and the lack of Afghan witnesses.

Former war crimes prosecutor Graham Blewitt told the ABC it would "irresponsible for the special investigation unit not to go higher up the chain of command".

Australian Associated Press