10 U.S.C. § 1491 — Funeral honors functions at funerals for veterans

(a) Availability of Funeral Honors Detail Ensured. The Secretary of Defense must ensure that, when requested, a funeral honors detail is provided for a veteran’s funeral, unless military honors are prohibited under section 985(a).
(b) Composition of Funeral Honors Details.
(1) The Secretary of each military department must ensure that the detail has at least two people.
(2) At least two detail members must be nonretired members of the armed forces^*. The rest may be armed-forces members, including retired members, or members of veterans or other organizations approved under Defense Department regulations. Each armed-forces member must wear that member’s service uniform.
(3) The responsible Secretary must provide full military honors, as that Secretary determines, for a veteran first buried or first placed in a crypt at Arlington National Cemetery on or after enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, if the veteran received the Medal of Honor or Prisoner-of-War Medal and is not otherwise entitled to full honors based on rank^*.
(c) Ceremony. At minimum, the detail must fold a United States flag, present it to the family, and play Taps. If no bugler is in the detail, it must play a recording using audio equipment it provides if adequate equipment is otherwise unavailable.
(d) Support.
(1) A military-department Secretary may provide: (A) travel and transportation allowances under regulations under section 464 of title 37, or the daily stipend under paragraph (2), to a participant who is neither a nonretired armed-forces member nor a United States employee; (B) supplies^*, equipment, and training to veterans-organization or other approved-organization members and retired armed-forces members; and (C) clothing that the responsible Secretary considers suitable as a civilian uniform for approved-organization members.
(2) The Secretary of Defense must set an annual flat daily stipend for paragraph (1)(A). It must cover typical transportation and miscellaneous costs for retired armed-forces members and other participants who are not armed-forces members or United States employees.
(3) A retired member’s stipend is in addition to compensation under section 435(a)(2) of title 37 and any other compensation.
(e) Waiver Authority.
(1) The Secretary of Defense may waive a requirement of or under this section when necessary for war, a national emergency, a contingency operation^*, or another military need. The power may not be delegated below the Secretary of the military department concerned, or within the Office of the Secretary of Defense below an Under Secretary of Defense.
(2) Before or promptly after granting a waiver, the Secretary must notify the Senate and House Armed Services Committees.
(f) Regulations. The Secretary must issue regulations, including systems for selecting units and organizations, responding to and coordinating requests, setting standards and protocol, providing training, and ensuring quality.
(g) Annual Report. From 2001 through 2005, by January 31 each year, the Secretary must report to both Armed Services Committees on the Department’s experience. Each report must give the number of funerals supported, support costs by manpower and other factors, and the number and costs supported by each participating organization, in a standard format.
(h) Veteran Defined. “Veteran” means a deceased person who either (1) served in active military, naval, air, or space service as defined in section 101(24) of title 38 and was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable, or (2) was a member or former member of the Selected Reserve described in section 2301(f) of title 38.