§652 Notice to Congress of proposed changes in units, assignments, etc. to which female members may be assigned

Summary

The Secretary of Defense must give Congress at least 30 calendar days’ notice before making certain changes to where female service members can serve. The notice is required if the change would close to women any unit or job they could do, open to women any unit or job that was closed, or change assignment rules for certain military career designators. The report must describe the change, explain why it is needed, and include a detailed legal analysis about how the change affects the constitutionality of applying the Military Selective Service Act (50 App. U.S.C. 451 et seq.) to men only. If a proposed change is not covered by section 8225 or the rule above, the Secretary must give the Senate and House Armed Services Committees written notice at least 30 calendar days before putting in place any policy that would let women serve in other unit types, classes of combat ships, or combat platforms that were closed to them on the date of the proposal. “Ground combat exclusion policy” means the policies in effect on October 1, 1994 that kept women from assignments below brigade level whose main job is direct ground combat. A “military career designator” is any job or specialty related to ground operations as of May 18, 2005.