§20252 Special Selection Boards; Correction of Errors

Summary

When the Air Force Secretary finds an officer was left out of a promotion board by an administrative mistake, the Secretary must set up a special board to decide if that person should have been recommended for promotion. If an officer was considered but not picked, the Secretary may set up a special board if the original board broke the law, made a serious factual or administrative error, or missed important information. The special board must follow Defense Department rules, be made like a normal promotion board, and its members must swear an oath. The board looks at the officer’s record as it should have appeared and compares it to samples of others who were and were not recommended. If the special board does not recommend promotion, the outcome differs: for those missed by administrative error and below colonel, it counts as a failed selection; for those already considered, it does not add another failure. The special board must send a signed report naming who it recommends and stating it carefully reviewed each file. If recommended, the officer is promoted as soon as possible and gets the same rank date, pay date, and list position they would have had if picked originally. The Secretary can fix service records under section 1552 when needed. Defense rules can set application steps and deadlines. Courts generally cannot act on these promotion claims until the Secretary sends them to a special board or rejects them; courts can review some Secretary decisions and send cases back if the decision was unreasonable, not supported by evidence, or broke the law. The Secretary may also treat a regular promotion board as a special board.