---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 20405"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "20405"
heading: "Force shaping authority"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/20405"
units:
  - "Subtitle F — Alternative Military Personnel Systems"
  - "Part I — Space Force"
  - "Chapter 2009 — Retention and Separation Generally"
---

# §20405. Force shaping authority

- (a) **Authority.—** The Secretary of the Air Force may, solely for the purpose of restructuring the Space Force—
  - (1) discharge an [officer](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-1) described in [subsection (b)](#b); or
  - (2) involuntarily release such an [officer](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-1) from [sustained duty](/usc/10/101.md?p=e-4).
- (b) **Covered Officers.—**
  - (1) The authority under this section may be exercised in the case of an [officer](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-1) of the Space Force serving on [sustained duty](/usc/10/101.md?p=e-4) who—
    - (A) has completed not more than six years of service as a [commissioned officer](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-2) in the [armed forces](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-4); or
    - (B) has completed more than six years of service as a [commissioned officer](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-2) in the [armed forces](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-4), but has not completed the minimum service obligation applicable to that [officer](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-1).
  - (2) In this subsection, the term “minimum service obligation”, with respect to a member of the Space Force, means the initial period of required [active duty](/usc/10/101.md?p=d-1) service applicable to the member, together with any additional period of required [active duty](/usc/10/101.md?p=d-1) service incurred by that member during the member’s initial period of required [active duty](/usc/10/101.md?p=d-1) service.
- (c) **Regulations.—** The Secretary of the Air Force shall prescribe regulations for the exercise of the Secretary’s authority under this section.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 118–31, div. A, title XVII, § 1718(a), Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 658.)