
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 2, 2001 and January 28, 2002]
[CITE: 10USC5141]

 
                         TITLE 10--ARMED FORCES
 
                    Subtitle C--Navy and Marine Corps
 
                          PART I--ORGANIZATION
 
       CHAPTER 513--BUREAUS; OFFICE OF THE JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL
 
Sec. 5141. Bureau of Naval Personnel: Chief of Naval Personnel; 
        Deputy Chief of Naval Personnel
        
    (a) The Chief of the Bureau of Naval Personnel shall be known as the 
Chief of Naval Personnel. The Chief of Naval Personnel shall be 
appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate, for a term of four years, from officers on the active-duty list 
in the line of the Navy not below the grade of commander.
    (b) The Deputy Chief of the Bureau of Naval Personnel shall be known 
as the Deputy Chief of Naval Personnel. An officer on the active-duty 
list in the line of the Navy not below the grade of commander may be 
detailed as Deputy Chief of Naval Personnel.

(Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 287; Pub. L. 96-513, title V, 
Sec. 503(11), Dec. 12, 1980, 94 Stat. 2912.)

                                          Historical and Revision Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------
            Revised section                      Source (U.S. Code)            
   Source (Statutes at Large)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------
5141(a)...............................  5 U.S.C. 432.                        R.
S. 421.
                                        5 U.S.C. 434 (less applicability to  R.
S. 422 (less applicability to
                                         Chief of BuOrd).                     C
hief of BuOrd, Bureau of
                                                                              E
quipment and Recruiting, and
                                                                              B
uDocks); May 13, 1942, ch. 303,
                                                                              S
ec.  1, 56 Stat. 276.
5141(b)...............................  5 U.S.C. 446 (less last 49 words).   Ma
r. 3, 1893, ch. 212 (1st par.,
                                                                              l
ess last 53 words), 27 Stat. 717;
                                                                              M
ay 13, 1942, ch. 303, Sec.  1, 56
                                                                              S
tat. 276.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------

    In subsection (a) the words ``from officers on the active list in 
the line of the Navy'' are substituted for the words ``from the list of 
officers of the Navy'' to conform to current terminology. Line officers 
alone had the ``grade'' of commander when the source statute was 
enacted. The words ``or from officers having the rank of captain in the 
staff corps of the Navy'' are omitted as obsolete in view of subsequent 
changes in the staff corps and in the staff corps ranks and grades. 
These words were derived from the Act of Mar. 3, 1871, ch. 117, Sec. 10, 
16 Stat. 537, which established new staff corps grades and assigned to 
officers in the highest grade the relative rank of captain. They were 
probably intended merely to assure the eligibility of senior staff corps 
officers for appointment as chiefs of appropriate staff bureaus. 
However, as incorporated in R.S. 421, they provide a category of 
eligible officers which is an alternative to each of the categories 
listed in R.S. 422-426. Thus R.S. 421 and R.S. 422, as originally 
enacted, provided that the chiefs of the four ``line'' bureaus, Yards 
and Docks, Navigation, Ordnance, and Equipment and Recruiting, could be 
appointed from line officers not below the grade of commander or from 
officers having the relative rank of captain in any staff corps. 
Pursuant to these sections the Attorney General held in 1898 that an 
officer having the relative rank of captain in the Civil Engineer Corps 
could legally be appointed as Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks (22 
Op. Atty. Gen. 47, 17 Mar. 1898). There is some confusion in the opinion 
as to which corps was meant. The proposed appointee was a member of the 
Civil Engineer Corps, but the Corps of Engineers is the corps mentioned 
in the conclusion of the opinion. A provision in the Act of June 29, 
1906, ch. 3590, 34 Stat. 564, requires that the Chief of the Bureau of 
Yards and Docks be selected from officers of the Civil Engineer Corps, 
so that there is no longer any question as to that bureau. The Bureau of 
Equipment and Recruiting has been abolished, leaving only the Bureau of 
Naval Personnel (formerly Navigation) and the Bureau of Ordnance of the 
four ``line'' bureaus originally listed in R.S. 422. The statutes 
establishing new ``line'' bureaus, the Bureau of Ships and the Bureau of 
Aeronautics, contain their own requirements as to the qualifications of 
the chiefs. The abolition of the Corps of Engineers and the Construction 
Corps, with the transfer of officers in those corps to the line, has 
eliminated the only staff corps whose members had duties closely related 
to those of line officers. The present staff corps, with the possible 
exception of the Supply Corps, are all highly specialized. Furthermore, 
in five of the seven corps, captain is no longer the highest grade. In 
view of these facts it is considered that the provision of R.S. 421 
making staff corps captains eligible for appointment as Chief of the 
Bureaus of Naval Personnel and Ordnance is obsolete.
    In subsection (b) the words ``An officer on the active list in the 
line of the Navy not below the grade of commander'' are substituted for 
the words ``An officer of the Navy not below the rank of commander'' to 
conform to current terminology and for clarity. When the source statute 
was enacted only line officers had the actual rank of commander. The 
words ``on the active list'' are inserted for the reasons stated in the 
revision note on Sec. 5137(b) of this title. The words ``Deputy Chief'' 
are substituted for the words ``assistant to the Chief'' for the reason 
stated in the revision note on Sec. 5134 of this title.


                               Amendments

    1980--Pub. L. 96-513 substituted ``active-duty list'' for ``active 
list'' wherever appearing.


                    Effective Date of 1980 Amendment

    Amendment by Pub. L. 96-513 effective Sept. 15, 1981, see section 
701 of Pub. L. 96-513, set out as a note under section 101 of this 
title.
