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Title 10 — Armed ForcesRelease 119-73

§1596 Foreign language proficiency: special pay for proficiency beneficial for intelligence interests

Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle A— - General Military Law › Part PART II— - PERSONNEL › Chapter CHAPTER 81— - CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES › § 1596

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of Defense may pay extra money to civilian DoD officers or employees who are certified in a foreign language that the Secretary says is important for gathering, producing, or sharing foreign intelligence. The person must be working in, or able to be assigned to, a job where that language helps them do official intelligence or intelligence-related duties. The Secretary decides the yearly amount. This extra pay can be added on top of any pay the person is eligible to receive under section 1602.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §1596

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary of Defense may pay special pay under this section to a civilian officer or employee of the Department of Defense who—
(1)has been certified as being proficient in a foreign language identified by the Secretary of Defense as being a language in which proficiency by civilian personnel of the Department is important for the effective collection, production, or dissemination of foreign intelligence information; and
(2)is serving in a position, or is subject to assignment to a position, in which proficiency in that language facilitates performance of officially assigned intelligence or intelligence-related duties.
(b)The annual rate of special pay under subsection (a) shall be determined by the Secretary of Defense.
(c)Special pay under this section may be paid in addition to any compensation authorized under section 1602 of this title for which an officer or employee is eligible.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2000—Pub. L. 106–398 substituted “Foreign language proficiency: special pay for proficiency beneficial for intelligence interests” for “Foreign language proficiency: special pay” as section catchline. 1996—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 104–201 substituted “section 1602” for “section 1604(b)”. 1990—Pub. L. 101–510 renumbered the second section 1592 of this title as this section.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1996 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 104–201 effective Oct. 1, 1996, see section 1635 of Pub. L. 104–201, set out as a note under section 1593 of this title.

Effective Date

Pub. L. 101–193, title V, § 501(b), Nov. 30, 1989, 103 Stat. 1708, provided that: “section 1592 [now 1596] of title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall take effect on the first day of the first pay period beginning on or after the later of— “(1) October 1, 1989, or “(2) the date of the enactment of this Act [Nov. 30, 1989].”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 1596

Title 10 — Armed Forces

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73