10 U.S.C. § 311 — Exchange of defense personnel between United States and friendly foreign countries: authority

(a) Authority To Enter Into International Exchange Agreements. The Secretary of Defense can sign international defense-personnel exchange agreements. These are deals with a friendly foreign government or a regional security organization to trade - either both ways or one way - U.S. armed forces members and Defense Department civilians for that country's or organization's military and civilian defense staff. If the exchange is with a foreign government's non-defense security ministry, or with an international or regional security organization, the Secretary of State must agree to it too. (b) Assignment of Personnel. Under an exchange agreement, a foreign defense ministry's staff can be placed in Defense Department jobs, and Defense Department staff can be placed in that ministry's jobs - including instructor jobs. If the exchange involves research and development work, Defense Department staff can even be assigned to private companies that support the host country's defense ministry, but only with the Secretary of State's agreement. No one can be assigned unless both governments accept the placement. (c) Reciprocity of Personnel Qualifications Required. When an agreement swaps personnel both ways, each government must supply people whose qualifications, training, and skills roughly match what the other government provides. (d) Payment of Personnel Costs. Each government normally pays its own people's salary, per diem, cost of living, travel, training, and other costs, following its own laws. Exceptions: this doesn't cover costs of temporary duty ordered by the host government, training to familiarize or certify exchanged staff on unfamiliar parts of their new job, or costs of using the host government's facilities to do the job. (e) Prohibited Conditions. No one exchanged under this section can be made to swear allegiance to the host country, or be required to hold an official position in that country's government. (f) Relationship to Other Authority. The reciprocity and cost-sharing rules in (c) and (d) also apply when a military department secretary uses separate legal authority to arrange personnel exchanges with a foreign country. The Secretary of Defense can write regulations for how those rules apply in that situation.