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Title 10, Armed ForcesRelease 119-110

§7377 Certain Civilian Special Agents: Authority to Execute Warrants and Make Arrests

Title 10 › Subtitle B — Army › PART II — PERSONNEL › CHAPTER 747 — CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES › § 7377

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of the Army can let certain civilian Army agents serve federal warrants and legal papers and make arrests without a warrant, like special agents of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. That authority applies to Army Criminal Investigation Command special agents who investigate, supervise, or coordinate criminal probes. It also applies to Army Counterintelligence Command special agents doing counterintelligence work for the four-year period starting on the date the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 was enacted. Those powers must be used under rules the Secretary of the Army writes and that the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General approve, and under any other applicable rules from those officials.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §7377

Armed Forces, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Authority.—
The Secretary of the Army may authorize any Department of the Army civilian employee described in subsection (b) to have the same authority to execute and serve warrants and other processes issued under the authority of the United States and to make arrests without a warrant as may be authorized under section 1585a of this title for special agents of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.
(b)Agents To Have Authority.—
(1)Subsection (a) applies to any employee of the Department of the Army who is a special agent of the Army Criminal Investigation Command (or a successor to that command) whose duties include conducting, supervising, or coordinating investigations of criminal activity in programs and operations of the Department of the Army.
(2)In addition to paragraph (1), during the four-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025, subsection (a) applies to any employee of the Department of the Army who is a special agent of the Army Counterintelligence Command (or a successor to that command) whose duties include conducting, supervising, or coordinating counterintelligence investigations in programs and operations of the Department of the Army.
(c)Guidelines for Exercise of Authority.—
The authority provided under subsection (a) shall be exercised in accordance with guidelines prescribed by the Secretary of the Army and approved by the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General and any other applicable guidelines prescribed by the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of Defense, or the Attorney General.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The date of the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025, referred to in subsec. (b)(2), is the date of enactment of Pub. L. 118–159, also known as the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025, which was approved Dec. 23, 2024.

Amendments

2024—Pub. L. 118–159, § 1613(a)(1), substituted “Certain civilian special agents:” for “Civilian special agents of the Criminal Investigation Command:” in section catchline. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 118–159, § 1613(a)(2), designated existing provisions as par. (1) and added par. (2). 2018—Pub. L. 115–232 renumbered section 4027 of this title as this section.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2018 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 115–232 effective Feb. 1, 2019, with provision for the coordination of

Amendments

and special rule for certain redesignations, see section 800 of Pub. L. 115–232, set out as a note preceding section 3001 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 7377

Title 10, Armed Forces

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110