
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: 10USC526]

 
                         TITLE 10--ARMED FORCES
 
                    Subtitle A--General Military Law
 
                           PART II--PERSONNEL
 
         CHAPTER 32--OFFICER STRENGTH AND DISTRIBUTION IN GRADE
 
Sec. 526. Authorized strength: general and flag officers on 
        active duty
        
    (a) Limitations.--The number of general officers on active duty in 
the Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, and the number of flag officers 
on active duty in the Navy, may not exceed the number specified for the 
armed force concerned as follows:
        (1) For the Army, 302.
        (2) For the Navy, 216.
        (3) For the Air Force, 279.
        (4) For the Marine Corps, 80.

    (b) Limited Exclusion for Joint Duty Requirements.--(1) The Chairman 
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff may designate up to 12 general officer and 
flag officer positions that are joint duty assignments for purposes of 
chapter 38 of this title for exclusion from the limitations in 
subsection (a). Officers in positions so designated shall not be counted 
for the purposes of those limitations.
    (2)(A) The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff may designate up to 
10 general and flag officer positions on the staffs of the commanders of 
the unified and specified combatant commands as positions to be held 
only by reserve component officers who are in a general or flag officer 
grade below lieutenant general or vice admiral. Each position so 
designated shall be considered to be a joint duty assignment position 
for purposes of chapter 38 of this title.
    (B) A reserve component officer serving in a position designated 
under subparagraph (A) while on active duty under a call or order to 
active duty that does not specify a period of 180 days or less shall not 
be counted for the purposes of the limitations under subsection (a) and 
under section 525 of this title if the officer was selected for service 
in that position in accordance with the procedures specified in 
subparagraph (C).
    (C) Whenever a vacancy occurs, or is anticipated to occur, in a 
position designated under subparagraph (A)--
        (i) the Secretary of Defense shall require the Secretary of the 
    Army to submit the name of at least one Army reserve component 
    officer, the Secretary of the Navy to submit the name of at least 
    one Naval Reserve officer and the name of at least one Marine Corps 
    Reserve officer, and the Secretary of the Air Force to submit the 
    name of at least one Air Force reserve component officer for 
    consideration by the Secretary for assignment to that position; and
        (ii) the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff may submit to the 
    Secretary of Defense the name of one or more officers (in addition 
    to the officers whose names are submitted pursuant to clause (i)) 
    for consideration by the Secretary for assignment to that position.

    (D) Whenever the Secretaries of the military departments are 
required to submit the names of officers under subparagraph (C)(i), the 
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff shall submit to the Secretary of 
Defense the Chairman's evaluation of the performance of each officer 
whose name is submitted under that subparagraph (and of any officer 
whose name the Chairman submits to the Secretary under subparagraph 
(C)(ii) for consideration for the same vacancy).
    (E) Subparagraph (B) does not apply in the case of an officer 
serving in a position designated under subparagraph (A) if the Secretary 
of Defense, when considering officers for assignment to fill the vacancy 
in that position which was filled by that officer, did not have a 
recommendation for that assignment from each Secretary of a military 
department who (pursuant to subparagraph (C)) was required to make such 
a recommendation.
    (3) This subsection shall cease to be effective on October 1, 2002.
    (c) Notice to Congress Upon Change in Grade for Certain Positions.--
(1) Not later than 60 days before an action specified in paragraph (2) 
may become effective, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the 
Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed 
Services of the House of Representatives a report providing notice of 
the intended action and an analytically based justification for the 
intended action.
    (2) Paragraph (1) applies in the case of the following actions:
        (A) A change in the grade authorized as of July 1, 1994, for a 
    general officer position in the National Guard Bureau, a general or 
    flag officer position in the Office of a Chief of a reserve 
    component, or a general or flag officer position in the headquarters 
    of a reserve component command.
        (B) Assignment of a reserve component officer to a general 
    officer position in the National Guard Bureau, to a general or flag 
    officer position in the Office of a Chief of a reserve component, or 
    to a general or flag officer position in the headquarters of a 
    reserve component command in a grade other than the grade authorized 
    for that position as of July 1, 1994.
        (C) Assignment of an officer other than a general or flag 
    officer as the military executive to the Reserve Forces Policy 
    Board.

    (d) Exclusion of Certain Officers.--The limitations of this section 
do not apply to a reserve component general or flag officer who is on 
active duty for training or who is on active duty under a call or order 
specifying a period of less than 180 days.

(Added Pub. L. 100-370, Sec. 1(b)(1)(B), July 19, 1988, 102 Stat. 840; 
amended Pub. L. 101-510, div. A, title IV, Sec. 403(a), Nov. 5, 1990, 
104 Stat. 1545; Pub. L. 102-484, div. A, title IV, Sec. 403, Oct. 23, 
1992, 106 Stat. 2398; Pub. L. 103-337, div. A, title IV, Sec. 404, title 
V, Sec. 512, Oct. 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 2744, 2752; Pub. L. 104-106, div. 
A, title XV, Secs. 1502(a)(1), 1503(a)(3), Feb. 10, 1996, 110 Stat. 502, 
510; Pub. L. 104-201, div. A, title IV, Sec. 405, Sept. 23, 1996, 110 
Stat. 2506; Pub. L. 105-261, div. A, title IV, Sec. 405, Oct. 17, 1998, 
112 Stat. 1996; Pub. L. 106-65, div. A, title V, Sec. 553, title X, 
Sec. 1067(1), Oct. 5, 1999, 113 Stat. 615, 774.)


                      Historical and Revision Notes

    Section is based on Pub. L. 95-79, title VIII, Sec. 811(a), July 30, 
1977, 91 Stat. 335, as amended by Pub. L. 96-107, title VIII, Sec. 817, 
Nov. 9, 1979, 93 Stat. 818; Pub. L. 96-342, title X, Sec. 1003, Sept. 8, 
1980, 94 Stat. 1120; Pub. L. 97-86, title VI, Sec. 602, Dec. 1, 1981, 95 
Stat. 1110.
    Present law (section 811(a) of Public Law 95-79, as amended) 
provides that the authority to suspend the limitation on the number of 
general and flag officers who may be serving on active duty applies 
during war or national emergency. In codifying the limitation (in 
section 526 of title 10 as proposed to be added by section 1(b) of the 
bill), the committee determined that the same war and emergency waiver 
authority as applies to other limitations on the number of officers on 
active duty under the existing 10 U.S.C. 526 (redesignated as 10 U.S.C. 
527 by the bill) should apply with respect to this limitation and 
accordingly amended the suspension authority in present law to include 
the codified general and flag officer limitation. This authority is 
slightly different from the waiver authority in the source law in that 
the suspension would expire 2 years after it takes effect or 1 year 
after the end of the war or national emergency, whichever occurs first, 
rather than upon termination of the war or emergency.


                            Prior Provisions

    A prior section 526 was renumbered section 527 of this title.


                               Amendments

    1999--Subsec. (b)(2), (3). Pub. L. 106-65, Sec. 553, added par. (2) 
and redesignated former par. (2) as (3).
    Subsec. (c)(1). Pub. L. 106-65, Sec. 1067(1), substituted ``and the 
Committee on Armed Services'' for ``and the Committee on National 
Security''.
    1998--Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 105-261 substituted ``October 1, 
2002'' for ``October 1, 1998''.
    1996--Subsec. (a)(1) to (3). Pub. L. 104-106, Sec. 1503(a)(3)(A), 
added pars. (1) to (3) and struck out former pars. (1) to (3) which read 
as follows:
    ``(1) For the Army, 386 before October 1, 1995, and 302 on and after 
that date.
    ``(2) For the Navy, 250 before October 1, 1995, and 216 on and after 
that date.
    ``(3) For the Air Force, 326 before October 1, 1995, and 279 on and 
after that date.''
    Subsec. (a)(4). Pub. L. 104-201 substituted ``80'' for ``68''.
    Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 104-106, Sec. 1503(a)(3)(B)-(D), redesignated 
subsec. (c) as (b), struck out ``that are applicable on and after 
October 1, 1995'' after ``limitations in subsection (a)'', and struck 
out former subsec. (b) which read as follows: ``Transfers Between 
Services.--During the period before October 1, 1995, the Secretary of 
Defense may increase the number of general officers on active duty in 
the Army, Air Force, or Marine Corps, or the number of flag officers on 
active duty in the Navy, above the applicable number specified in 
subsection (a) by a total of not more than five. Whenever any such 
increase is made, the Secretary shall make a corresponding reduction in 
the number of such officers that may serve on active duty in general or 
flag officer grades in one of the other armed forces.''
    Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 104-106, Sec. 1503(a)(3)(C), (E), redesignated 
subsec. (d) as (c) and, in par. (2)(B), struck out ``the'' after 
``general officer position in the'' and inserted ``to'' after ``reserve 
component, or'' and ``than'' after ``in a grade other''. Former subsec. 
(c) redesignated (b).
    Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 104-106, Sec. 1503(a)(3)(C), redesignated 
subsec. (e) as (d). Former subsec. (d) redesignated (c).
    Subsec. (d)(1). Pub. L. 104-106, Sec. 1502(a)(1), substituted 
``Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on 
National Security of the House of Representatives'' for ``Committees on 
Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives''.
    Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 104-106, Sec. 1503(a)(3)(C), redesignated 
subsec. (e) as (d).
    1994--Subsec. (a)(4). Pub. L. 103-337, Sec. 404, struck out ``before 
October 1, 1995, and 61 on and after that date'' after ``Corps, 68''.
    Subsecs. (d), (e). Pub. L. 103-337, Sec. 512, added subsecs. (d) and 
(e).
    1992--Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 102-484, Sec. 403(b), inserted heading.
    Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 102-484, Sec. 403(a), added subsec. (c).
    1990--Pub. L. 101-510 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, 
text read as follows: ``The total number of general officers on active 
duty in the Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps and flag officers on 
active duty in the Navy may not exceed 1,073.''


                    Effective Date of 1990 Amendment

    Section 403(a) of Pub. L. 101-510 provided that the amendment made 
by that section is effective Sept. 30, 1991.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 517, 525, 527, 721, 3038, 
3210, 4335, 5143, 5144, 5150, 8038, 8210, 9335, 10506, 12004, 12011, 
12012 of this title.
