§1565 DNA identification information: collection from certain offenders; use

Summary

The military must collect a DNA sample from any service member under its control who is or was convicted of a qualifying military crime. If that person’s DNA is already in the FBI’s CODIS database or has been or will be collected under the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act, the military can choose not to collect it again. The military can make agreements with other federal, state, local, or private groups to gather samples. Collected samples go to the Secretary of Defense, who must test them in the way CODIS requires and send the results to the FBI for entry into CODIS. A DNA sample means a tissue, fluid, or other bodily sample used for testing. A DNA analysis means the testing of DNA from that sample. Qualifying military crimes include any offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice punishable by more than one year in prison, or other UCMJ offenses that the Secretary of Defense (with the Attorney General) says are like qualifying federal offenses. If a qualifying conviction is later overturned by a final court order and the Secretary of Defense gets a certified copy, the Defense Department must remove that person’s DNA from the federal index. The Secretary of Defense, with input from Homeland Security and the Attorney General, must write rules for how this is done and try to apply them uniformly across the armed forces.