§14502a Special selection review boards

Summary

If the military department’s Secretary finds credible bad information about someone who a selection board has picked for promotion to a rank at or below major general or rear admiral, and that information was not given to the original board, the Secretary must start a special review board to re-check the person and decide if the promotion recommendation should stand. While the review is happening, the person’s name cannot be put on public promotion lists or sent up to the Secretary of Defense, the President, or the Senate. The special board gets the same records the original board saw plus any new adverse information. The person must be shown that new information and given a fair chance to comment before the review, unless the details are classified, in which case a cleared summary is given when possible. If the person already saw the information and commented to the original board, those comments go to the special board. A person can also choose to waive these rights. The special board compares the person’s record to samples of officers who were recommended and not recommended by the original board. The review is done without naming who is being reviewed and follows the same standards the original board used. To keep the promotion recommendation, the person must rank in the top half of an order of merit the special board creates or be judged better than the highest-ranked officer who was considered but not promoted, and must be similar in quality to those the original board recommended. A majority of the special board must agree to sustain the recommendation. If they do not, the person is treated as not selected for promotion. The board sends a signed written report to the military department Secretary. If the President approves a sustained recommendation, the person is promoted with the same rank date, pay effective date, and reserve-status placement they would have had from the original recommendation. The Secretary of Defense must write uniform rules for how these reviews work, and any extra rules from a military department need the Secretary of Defense’s written approval.