§504 Persons Not Qualified

Summary

People who are insane, drunk, deserters, or convicted felons cannot be enlisted in the armed forces, though the service secretary can allow exceptions for deserters and felons in special cases. Only U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents, and people covered by the Compacts of Free Association with Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, or Palau may normally enlist. A service secretary may also allow others to join if they have a critical skill that is vital to the national interest and will use that skill every day in their military job. Anyone allowed in this way cannot start initial training until all required background checks and security screenings set by the Secretary of Defense are finished. No more than 1,000 of these special enlistments per military department may be approved in a year unless the Secretary of Defense tells Congress in writing and 30 days pass. The Secretary of Defense must run a program to give people who were denied enlistment information about non-military jobs that serve national interests, like work in the defense industrial base, cybersecurity, intelligence support, defense technology research, or emergency preparedness. The program must share training or certification options and try to make agreements with employers in those fields. The Secretary must send Congress’s Armed Services Committees an annual report showing how many people got job information, how many got training information, and how many agreements were made.