---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 1555"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "1555"
heading: "Professional staff"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/1555"
units:
  - "Subtitle A — General Military Law"
  - "Part II — Personnel"
  - "Chapter 79 — Correction of Military Records"
---

# §1555. Professional staff

- (a) The [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of each [military](/usc/10/801.md?p=8) [department](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-6) shall assign to the staff of the service review [agency](/usc/10/3451.md?p=3) of that [military](/usc/10/801.md?p=8) [department](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-6) at least one attorney and at least one physician. Such assignments shall be made on a permanent, full-time basis and may be made from members of the [armed forces](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-4) or civilian employees.
- (b) Personnel assigned pursuant to [subsection (a)](#a)—
  - (1) shall work under the supervision of the director or executive director (as the case may be) of the service review [agency](/usc/10/3451.md?p=3); and
  - (2) shall be assigned duties as advisers to the director or executive director or other staff members on legal and medical matters, respectively, that are being considered by the [agency](/usc/10/3451.md?p=3).
- (c) In this section, the term “service review [agency](/usc/10/3451.md?p=3)” means—
  - (1) with respect to the [Department](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-6) of the Army, the Army Review Boards [Agency](/usc/10/3451.md?p=3);
  - (2) with respect to the [Department](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-6) of the Navy, the Navy Council of Personnel Boards and the Board for Correction of Naval [Records](/usc/10/801.md?p=14); and
  - (3) with respect to the [Department](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-6) of the Air Force, the [Department](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-6) of the Air Force Review Boards [Agency](/usc/10/3451.md?p=3).

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 105–261, div. A, title V, § 542(a)(1), Oct. 17, 1998, 112 Stat. 2020; amended Pub. L. 106–65, div. A, title V, § 582, Oct. 5, 1999, 113 Stat. 634; Pub. L. 118–31, div. A, title XVII, § 1722(j)(2)(A), Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 673.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2023—Subsec. (c)(3). Pub. L. 118–31 inserted “the Department of” after “Air Force,”.

1999—Subsec. (c)(2). Pub. L. 106–65 inserted “the Navy Council of Personnel Boards and” after “Department of the Navy,”.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Pub. L. 105–261, div. A, title V, § 542(b), Oct. 17, 1998, 112 Stat. 2020, provided that: “Section 1555 of title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall take effect 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Oct. 17, 1998].”