10 U.S.C. § 172 — Explosive safety board

(a) In General: The Secretary of Defense runs a joint board — with military officers as chair and voting members from each military department, plus other civilian defense staff as needed — that oversees how ammunition supplies are stored and transported for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The board's main job is keeping these supplies properly spread out and stored, and stopping unsafe conditions that could endanger lives or property, inside or outside storage areas. If the Coast Guard is not part of the Navy Department, the Secretary of Homeland Security appoints a Coast Guard officer as a voting board member. (b) Oversight by Secretaries of the Military Departments: Each military department's Secretary oversees research, development, testing, evaluation, and manufacturing of energetic materials, meaning explosive materials, needed for military use. (c) Responsibilities of Chair: Except as subsection (h) provides, the board's chair must: (1) act as the Secretary's main representative and advisor on explosive and chemical-agent safety for military munitions; (2) approve hazard classifications; (3) run board meetings; (4) direct the board's staff; (5) handle other explosives-safety jobs the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment assigns; (6) give unbiased advice on explosives safety to the Secretary of Defense and military department heads; (7) represent the Department of Defense on explosives-safety matters; (8) advise the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment and the Deputy Director of Land Warfare and Munitions on munitions acquisition and technology, especially explosives and chemical-agent safety and demilitarization; (9) advise the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Logistics and Material Readiness on sustaining munitions safely, including storage, transportation, and demilitarization; (10) recommend official guidance defining the board's functions; (11) set up joint hazard-classification procedures with other Defense components; (12) recommend safety standards to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment; (13) oversee the Department's explosives-safety programs; and (14) do any other job the Secretary of Defense assigns. (d) Responsibilities of Executive Director and Civilian Members: The board's executive director and civilian members must (1) help the chair carry out the duties in subsection (c), and (2) do other jobs the chair assigns. (e) Meetings: (1) The board must meet at least every three months. (2) The chair must give Congress's defense committees a yearly report on what happened at board meetings. (f) Exclusive Responsibilities: Only the explosive safety board may (1) recommend new or updated explosives and chemical-agent safety rules to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations and Environment, for forwarding to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, and (2) act as the main place where Defense components coordinate on explosives safety. (g) Covered Components: The Department components covered by this section are: (1) the Office of the Secretary of Defense; (2) the military departments; (3) the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Joint Staff, and the Combatant Commands; (4) the Office of the Inspector General; (5) the Defense Agencies; (6) Department of Defense field activities; and (7) all other organizational parts of the Department. (h) Explosives Used by Space Launch Vehicles: (1) The Secretary of Defense must hand off the chair's responsibilities under subsection (c), for explosives used in space launch vehicles, to the Secretary of the Air Force, who may pass them further to the Commanders of the Space Launch Deltas. (2) Here, "launch vehicle" has the meaning given in section 50902(11) of title 51.