§14107 Information furnished by the Secretary concerned to promotion boards

Summary

Requires the Secretary of Defense to make one set of written rules that all military departments must follow about what information promotion boards can see. Any extra rules a military department wants to use must be approved in writing by the Secretary of Defense. Only certain kinds of information may go to a promotion board: items from an officer’s official personnel file, other proven and relevant facts cleared by the officer’s department, anything the officer sends to the board, and short factual summaries prepared by board staff. For officers considered for ranks above lieutenant colonel (or Navy commander), any credible adverse information, including proven bad findings from official investigations, must be given to the board. That adverse information must be given to every board member at the same time they review the officer’s file or discuss the officer. Records and all information given must be part of the board’s official record and be in writing or recorded, and recordings must have a written transcript. Routine oral help from board staff is allowed when needed. Information that was not put into the officer’s official file cannot be sent to a later board unless it is properly added to the file or provided again under the rules. Before the board sees department-cleared adverse information, the officer must be shown the information and given a fair chance to comment; if the material is classified, the officer should get an appropriate summary when possible. The military department must also give the promotion board, for each competition, the maximum number it may recommend for promotion, the names of the officers to be considered, each officer’s relevant records, guidance on the force’s needs for officers with certain skills (including any minimums or maximums when not a vacancy board), and any other needed instructions. Once a board sends its report, the information and guidance given to that board cannot be changed, except if the report is sent back because the board broke a law or rule; then the department may change the guidance in a written explanation. For health-care professionals being considered for promotion below colonel (or Navy Reserve captain), departments must tell boards to value clinical skill at least as much as management ability.