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Sunday, May 10, 2020

U.S. Public Health Service commissioned corps disciplinary actions

The U.S. Public Health Service's regulation on disciplinary actions involving members of the Commissioned Corps can be found here. The Commissioned Corps is a uniformed service but not an armed force. Its personnel can come within the Uniform Code of Military Justice when detailed to an armed force. Paragraph 2 of HHS Secretary Alex M. Azar II's 2018 directive recites:
The provisions of this Directive shall apply to all commissioned officers, whether on active duty or retired. Officers detailed for duty with other uniformed services shall also be subject to the laws and regulations of the service to which detailed. The authority to terminate an officer’s commission shall continue to reside with the Secretary, unless otherwise delegated. During the effective period of any Executive Order declaring the Corps to be a military service and prescribing that the Corps is subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), disciplinary action may be prosecuted in accordance with the Executive Order or in accordance with this Directive. In addition to officers detailed to the armed forces pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 215(a), officers assigned to and serving with the armed forces, may also be subject to the UCMJ under 10 U.S.C. §802(a)(8).
Many and varied are the questions this directive raises from a military law perspective, such as its application to retirees, fair notice of what is forbidden, free speech limitations, service nexus, and decisional independence.

The comparable document for the NOAA Commissioned Corps can be found here.

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