§20233 Eligibility for consideration for promotion: designation as joint qualified officer required before promotion to brigadier general; exceptions

Summary

Space Force officers may not be promoted to brigadier general unless they are officially designated as "joint qualified" under section 661. The Secretary of Defense can grant a one-off waiver for an individual in four cases: when needed for the service; when the officer is picked mainly for scientific or technical skills that have no joint requirement (the Secretary will list which jobs those are in rules); when the officer is already in a joint duty job, has at least two years of continuous joint service, and finished the education program in section 2155(b) and (c); or when the officer was picked by a promotion board, is not covered by the transfer exception below, has finished the education in section 661(c)(1)(A) but has not had the chance to get the experience in 661(c)(1)(B). Waivers must be decided case by case. If the waiver is for the first reason, the officer’s first assignment as a general must be a joint duty job. The Secretary’s ability to delegate the fourth waiver follows section 619a(e). Officers who transfer from a reserve component before the first day of the sixth fiscal year after this law was enacted, and who transfer in as major, lieutenant colonel, or colonel (or Navy/Coast Guard equivalents), are not covered by the joint-qualification rule.