---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 1596"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "1596"
heading: "Foreign language proficiency: special pay for proficiency beneficial for intelligence interests"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/1596"
units:
  - "Subtitle A — General Military Law"
  - "Part II — Personnel"
  - "Chapter 81 — Civilian Employees"
---

# §1596. Foreign language proficiency: special pay for proficiency beneficial for intelligence interests

- (a) The [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense may [pay](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-15) special [pay](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-15) under this section to a civilian [officer](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-1) or employee of the [Department](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-6) of Defense who—
  - (1) has been certified as being proficient in a foreign language identified by the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense as being a language in which proficiency by civilian personnel of the [Department](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-6) is important for the effective collection, production, or dissemination of foreign intelligence information; and
  - (2) is serving in a position, or is subject to assignment to a position, in which proficiency in that language facilitates performance of officially assigned intelligence or intelligence-related duties.
- (b) The annual [rate](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-9) of special [pay](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-15) under [subsection (a)](#a) shall be determined by the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense.
- (c) Special [pay](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-15) under this section may be paid in addition to any compensation authorized under [section 1602 of this title](/usc/10/1602.md) for which an [officer](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-1) or employee is eligible.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 101–193, title V, § 501(a)(1), Nov. 30, 1989, 103 Stat. 1707, § 1592; renumbered § 1596, Pub. L. 101–510, div. A, title XIV, § 1484(a), Nov. 5, 1990, 104 Stat. 1715; amended Pub. L. 104–201, div. A, title XVI, § 1633(e)(2), Sept. 23, 1996, 110 Stat. 2752; Pub. L. 106–398, § 1 [[div. A], title XI, § 1131(b)], Oct. 30, 2000, 114 Stat. 1654, 1654A–317.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2000—Pub. L. 106–398 substituted “Foreign language proficiency: special pay for proficiency beneficial for intelligence interests” for “Foreign language proficiency: special pay” as section catchline.

1996—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 104–201 substituted “section 1602” for “section 1604(b)”.

1990—Pub. L. 101–510 renumbered the second section 1592 of this title as this section.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 1996 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 104–201 effective Oct. 1, 1996, see section 1635 of Pub. L. 104–201, set out as a note under section 1593 of this title.

### Effective Date

Pub. L. 101–193, title V, § 501(b), Nov. 30, 1989, 103 Stat. 1708, provided that: “Section 1592 [now 1596] of title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall take effect on the first day of the first pay period beginning on or after the later of— October 1, 1989, or the date of the enactment of this Act [Nov. 30, 1989].”