10 U.S.C. § 661 — Management policies for joint qualified officers

(a) Establishment. The Secretary of Defense must establish policies, procedures, and practices for effectively managing active-duty Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps officers and Space Force officers who are especially trained in and focused on joint matters. “Joint matters” is defined in section 668; this section does not define it. In addition to each officer’s main military specialty, the Secretary must identify or designate such officers as joint qualified officers, or in another way the Secretary directs. (b) Levels, designation, and numbers. (1)(A) The Secretary must establish different levels of joint qualification and the criteria for each level, with advice from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Every level must include, at minimum, joint-education and joint-experience criteria. The levels are meant to provide systematic, progressive, career-long development in joint matters and to ensure that general and flag officers have enough experience and education to be highly proficient in those matters. (B) The Secretary, with the Chairman’s advice, determines the number of joint-qualified officers. The number must be large enough to meet subsection (d). (2) The Secretary, with the Chairman’s advice, must designate certain officers as joint qualified. (3) An officer may be designated under paragraph (2) only if the officer: (A) meets subsection (c)’s education and experience criteria; (B) meets additional criteria set by the Secretary; and (C) is a captain or higher, or, in the Navy, a lieutenant or higher. (4) The Secretary’s authority to designate officers may be delegated only to the Deputy Secretary of Defense or an Under Secretary of Defense. (c) Education and experience requirements. (1) An officer cannot be designated joint qualified until the officer: (A) successfully completes an appropriate joint professional military education program at a joint professional military education school, as described in section 2155(b) and (c); and (B) successfully completes either (i) a full tour in a joint assignment described in section 664(d), or (ii) other assignments and experiences that demonstrate mastery of joint knowledge, skills, and abilities, as determined under the Secretary’s regulations and policy. (2) Subject to paragraphs (3) through (6), the Secretary may waive the education requirement in paragraph (1)(A). (3) For an officer below brigadier general or rear admiral (lower half), a waiver is allowed only if (A) the officer completed two full joint-duty tours that demonstrate mastery of joint knowledge, skills, and abilities, and (B) the Secretary finds those experiences broad enough to prepare the officer adequately to serve as a general or flag officer in a joint-duty position. (4) For a general or flag officer, a waiver is allowed only (A) in unusual circumstances justifying departure from the education requirement and (B) when needed to meet a critical armed-forces need, as determined by the Chairman. (5) For officers below brigadier general or rear admiral (lower half), waivers for officers in the same pay grade during one fiscal year cannot exceed 10 percent of the officers in that grade designated joint qualified during that year. (6) At one time, no more than 32 active-duty general and flag officers may both hold a general or flag position, have been designated joint qualified (or selected for the joint specialty before October 1, 2007), and have received a waiver under paragraph (2). (d) Number of joint-duty assignments. (1) The Secretary must ensure that about half of the joint-duty positions above major, or above lieutenant commander in the Navy, are filled at any time by officers with the appropriate joint-qualification level. (2) With the Chairman’s advice, the Secretary must designate an appropriate number of joint-duty positions as critical joint-duty positions. A position qualifies only when its duties and responsibilities make special joint training and focus important. (3)(A) Subject to (B), only an officer designated joint qualified under this chapter or selected for the joint specialty before October 1, 2007, may hold such a position. (B) The Secretary may waive this requirement for a particular assignment, case by case. This waiver authority may be delegated only to the Chairman or the Chairman’s designee who is an armed-forces officer of grade O-9 or higher. (4) Of the joint-duty positions held by general or flag officers, the Secretary must ensure that a substantial portion are critical joint-duty positions. (e) Career guidelines. With the Chairman’s advice, the Secretary must establish career guidelines for officers to become joint qualified and for officers already designated joint qualified. The guidelines must cover (1) selection, (2) military education, (3) training, (4) types of duty assignments, and (5) other matters the Secretary considers appropriate. (f) Treatment of certain service. Service by a captain, or by a Navy lieutenant, in a joint-duty assignment counts as service in a joint-duty assignment under every law that sets a requirement or condition concerning such service, including section 619a.