---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 1185"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "1185"
heading: "Rights and procedures"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/1185"
units:
  - "Subtitle A — General Military Law"
  - "Part II — Personnel"
  - "Chapter 60 — Separation of Regular Officers for Substandard Performance of Duty or for Certain Other Reasons"
---

# §1185. Rights and procedures

- (a) Under regulations prescribed by the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense, each [officer](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-1) required under [section 1181 of this title](/usc/10/1181.md) to show cause for retention on [active duty](/usc/10/101.md?p=d-1)—
  - (1) shall be notified in writing, at least 30 days before the hearing of his case by a board of inquiry, of the reasons for which he is being required to show cause for retention on [active duty](/usc/10/101.md?p=d-1);
  - (2) shall be allowed a reasonable time, as determined by the board of inquiry, to prepare his showing of cause for his retention on [active duty](/usc/10/101.md?p=d-1);
  - (3) subject to [subsection (c)](#c), shall be allowed to appear in [person](/usc/10/2700.md?p=2) and to be represented by counsel at proceedings before the board of inquiry; and
  - (4) shall be allowed full access to, and shall be furnished copies of, [records](/usc/10/801.md?p=14) relevant to his case, except that the board of inquiry shall withhold any [record](/usc/10/801.md?p=14) that the [Secretary concerned](/usc/10/2801.md?p=c-5) determines should be withheld in the interest of [national security](/usc/10/801.md?p=16).
- (b) When a [record](/usc/10/801.md?p=14) is withheld under [subsection (a)(4)](#a-4), the [officer](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-1) whose case is under consideration shall, to the extent that the interest of [national security](/usc/10/801.md?p=16) permits, be furnished a summary of the [record](/usc/10/801.md?p=14) so withheld.
- (c) The [Secretary concerned](/usc/10/2801.md?p=c-5) may determine that, in exceptional circumstances, the appearance of an [officer](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-1) before the proceedings of a board of inquiry may be via means other than in [person](/usc/10/2700.md?p=2).

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 96–513, title I, § 110, Dec. 12, 1980, 94 Stat. 2874; amended Pub. L. 118–159, div. A, title V, § 509(a), Dec. 23, 2024, 138 Stat. 1872.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2024—Subsec. (a)(3). Pub. L. 118–159, § 509(a)(1), substituted “subject to subsection (c), shall be” for “shall be”.

Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 118–159, § 509(a)(2), added subsec. (c).

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Section effective Sept. 15, 1981, but the authority to prescribe regulations under this section effective on Dec. 12, 1980, see section 701 of Pub. L. 96–513, set out as an Effective Date of 1980 Amendment note under section 101 of this title.