Boards, Commissions, and Committees Procedures for ...

1 Army Regulation 15 6 Boards, Commissions, and CommitteesProcedures forAdministrativeInvestigationsand Boards ofOfficersHeadquartersDepartment of the ArmyWashington, DC1 april 2016 UNCLASSIFIEDSUMMARY of CHANGEAR 15 6 Procedures for administrative Investigations and Boards of OfficersThis major revision, dated 1 april 2016--o Provides guidance on flagging of Soldiers under investigation in accordancewith AR 600-8-2 (paras 1-10 and 1-11).o Authorizes a civilian supervisor permanently assigned to a position graded asa General Schedule-14 or higher, or their equivalent, and who is assigned asthe head of an agency, activity, division, or directorate, to appointinvestigating officers and boards (para 2-1a).

2 O Authorizes a general or flag officer in a command billet or a general courts-martial convening authority to appoint an investigation or board forincidents resulting in property damage of $2 million or more, the loss ordestruction of an Army aircraft, an injury and/or illness resulting in, orlikely to result in, permanent total disability or the death of one or morepersons, where the cause is not due to friendly fire (para 2-1c).o Requires the next superior authority to appoint an investigation or board forClass A training accidents resulting in, or likely to result in, the permanenttotal disability or death of one or more persons, and for combat-relateddeaths involving non-Department of Defense personnel or an insider (green onblue) attack (para 2-1c).

3 O Clarifies when the authority to appoint an investigation of a death may bedelegated (para 2-1c).o Provides additional guidance on friendly fire appointing authority (para 2-1c).o Prohibits an individual from appointing an inquiry, investigation , or boardif that individual is reasonably likely to become a witness; has an actual orperceived bias for or against a potential subject of the investigation ; or hasan actual or perceived conflict of interest in the outcome of theinvestigation (para 2-1f).o Authorizes the appointment of Department of the Army civilians in the grade ofGeneral Schedule-11, or higher, as investigating officers and members ofboards (para 2-3b).o Authorizes the appointment of noncommissioned officers in the grade of E-7,or higher, as investigating officers under certain circumstances (para 2-3b).

4 O Provides additional guidance on appointing assistant investigating officers(paras 2-3c and 5-1).o Provides that each investigation or board directed under this regulation musthave a designated legal advisor (para 2-6b).o Details the legal support to be provided at all stages of the investigativeand board process (para 2-6).o Expands the scope of the legal review (para 2-7).o Defines personally identifiable information and provides guidance onsafeguarding personally identifiable information (para 3-8).o Provides guidance on compliance with applicable information security laws andregulations (paras 3-16 and 3-17).o Provides new filing requirements (para 3-19).o Establishes authority to conduct a preliminary inquiry (chap 4).

5 O Establishes a right to respond to adverse information regarding field gradeofficers (para 5-4).HeadquartersDepartment of the ArmyWashington, DC1 april 2016 Boards, Commissions, and CommitteesProcedures for administrative Investigations and Boards of Officers*Army Regulation 15 6 Effective 1 May 2016H i s t o r y . T h i s p u b l i c a t i o n i s a m a j o u m m a r y . T h i s r e g u l a t i o n e s t a b l i s h e sprocedures for investigations and boardsnot specifically authorized by any otherregulation or This regulation applies tot h e R e g u l a r A r m y , t h e A r m y N a t i o n a lGuard/Army National Guard of the UnitedStates, and the Army Reserve.

6 It alsoapplies to Department of the Army civil-ian employees. During mobilization, chap-t e r s a n d p o l i c i e s c o n t a i n e d i n t h i sr e g u l a t i o n m a y b e m o d i f i e d b y t h and exception proponent of this regulation is TheJudge Advocate General. The proponenthas the authority to approve exceptions orwaivers to this regulation that are consis-tent with controlling law and proponent may delegate this approvalauthority, in writing, to a division chiefwithin the proponent agency or its directreporting unit or field operating agency inthe grade of colonel or the civilian equiv-alent.

7 Activities may request a waiver tothis regulation by providing justificationthat includes a full analysis of the ex-pected benefits and must include formalreview by the activity s senior legal offi-cer. All waiver requests will be endorsedby the commander or senior leader of therequesting activity and forwarded throughhigher headquarters to the policy propo-n e n t . R e f e r t o A R 2 5 3 0 f o r s p e c i f i internal control process. Thisr e g u l a t i o n c o n t a i n s m a n a g e m e n t c o n t r o lprovisions in accordance with AR 11 2and identifies key internal controls thatmust be evaluated (see appendix E).

8 S u p p l e m e n t a t i o n . S u p p l e m e n t a t i o n o fthis regulation and establishment of agen-cy, command, and installation forms arep r o h i b i t e d w i t h o u t p r i o r a p p r o v a l f r o mH Q D A ( D A J A A L ) , W a s h i n g t o n , D C20310 u g g e s t e d i m p r o v e m e n t s . T h e p r o -ponent agency of this regulation is theOffice of The Judge Advocate are invited to send comments ands u g g e s t e d i m p r o v e m e n t s o n D A F o r m2028 (Recommended Changes to Publica-tions and Blank Forms) directly to HQDA( D A J A A L ) , W a s h i n g t o n , D C20310 This regulation is availablein electronic media only and is intendedfor command level A for the Active Ar-my, the Army National Guard/Army Na-tional Guard of the United States, and Army (Listed by paragraph and page number)

9 Chapter 1 Introduction, page 1 Purpose 1 1, page 1 References 1 2, page 1 Explanation of abbreviations and terms 1 3, page 1 Responsibilities 1 4, page 1 Other governing regulations 1 5, page 1 Types of Procedures 1 6, page 1 Allegations against senior officials 1 7, page 2 Function of preliminary inquiry, administrative investigation , and board of officers 1 8, page 2 Interested persons 1 9, page 2 Designation as a respondent in a board and requirement to initiate a suspension of favorable personnel actions 1 10, page 2*This regulation supersedes AR 15 6, dated 2 October 15 6 1 april 2016iUNCLASSIFIEDC ontents ContinuedRequirement to initiate a suspension of favorable personnel actions in preliminary inquiries and administrativeinvestigations 1 11, page 2 Use of results of preliminary inquiries, administrative investigations, and boards of officers in adverse administrativeactions 1 12, page 2 Chapter 2 Responsibilities - Investigations and Boards, page 4 Section IAppointing Authority, page 4 Appointment authority 2 1, page 4 Method of appointment 2 2, page 5 Who may be appointed 2 3, page 13 administrative support 2 4.

10 Page 13 Actions of the appointing authority after appointing an investigating officer 2 5, page 14 Section IILegal Support, page 14 Legal support to investigations and boards 2 6, page 14 Legal review 2 7, page 14 Section IIIA pproval Authority, page 15 Action of the approval authority 2 8, page 15 Request for reconsideration 2 9, page 19 Chapter 3 General Guidance for Investigating Officers and Boards, page 20 Section IConduct of the investigation , page 20 Preliminary responsibilities 3 1, page 20 Oaths 3 2, page 20 Challenges 3 3, page 20 Representation 3 4, page 20 Decisions 3 5, page 20 Presence of the public and recording of proceedings 3 6, page 20 Rules of evidence and proof of facts 3 7, page 20 Witnesses 3 8, page 22 Communications with the appointing authority 3 9, page 24 Section IIFindings and Recommendations, page 24 Findings 3 10, page 24 Recommendations 3 11, page 24 Section IIIR eport of Proceedings, page 25 Format 3 12, page 25 Enclosures 3 13, page 28 Exhibits/evidence 3 14, page 28 Authentication 3 15, page 28 Compliance with applicable information security laws and regulations 3 16, page 28 Safeguarding a written report 3 17.