§4605 Board of Directors

Summary

Creates a 15‑member Board to run the Institute. Five of the members are officials: the Secretary of State (or a Senate‑confirmed State Department officer they name), the Secretary of Defense (or a similar Defense Department officer), and the president of the National Defense University (or the vice president if named). The other twelve are picked by the President and must be approved by the Senate. No more than eight voting members may be from the same political party. The twelve presidential appointees must have real experience in U.S. peace and conflict work and cannot be federal officers or employees. Appointees serve four‑year terms, though six of the first group serve only two years as the President picks. Terms begin January 20, 1985 for the first group. The President could not nominate anyone before that date and had to send 11 initial names within 90 days after that date, replacing any nominee within 15 days if rejected or withdrawn. A person may serve no more than two terms. A term starts only after Senate confirmation and being sworn in. The President can remove an appointed member for felony, misconduct, neglect, or inability; on recommendation by eight voting Board members; or by a majority recommendation from certain House and Senate committees (House: Foreign Affairs and Education and Labor; Senate: Foreign Relations and Labor and Human Resources). Board members must not act on matters that would directly and financially help them or groups they are or were formally tied to in the last two years, except that a member who sits on the Board because of a public office may vote on matters about that public body. The President names the first Chair for three years. After that, the Board elects a Chair every three years from the President’s appointees and may pick a Vice Chair if the bylaws allow. The Board must meet at least twice a year. Meetings can also be called by the Chair or requested in writing by five members. A majority of members is a quorum. Meetings must be open to the public with reasonable notice (notice in the Federal Register counts). Parts of a meeting may be closed by majority vote if they would harm an ongoing peace effort or involve information that law exempts from public disclosure. Presidential appointees get pay equal to the daily share of the annual GS‑18 rate for days they work for the Board. While traveling for Board duties, they get travel pay and per diem not to exceed amounts allowed under the law for intermittent government workers.