---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 2154"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "2154"
heading: "Joint professional military education: three-phase approach"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/2154"
units:
  - "Subtitle A — General Military Law"
  - "Part III — Training and Education"
  - "Chapter 107 — Professional Military Education"
---

# §2154. Joint professional military education: three-phase approach

- (a) **Three-Phase Approach.—** The [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense shall implement a three-phase approach to joint professional [military](/usc/10/801.md?p=8) education, as follows:
  - (1) There shall be a course of instruction, designated and certified by the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense with the advice and assistance of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as Phase I instruction, consisting of all the elements of a joint professional [military](/usc/10/801.md?p=8) education (as specified in [section 2151(a) of this title](/usc/10/2151.md?p=a)), in addition to the principal curriculum taught to all [officers](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-1) at an [intermediate level service school](/usc/10/2151.md?p=b-2) or at a [joint intermediate level school](/usc/10/2151.md?p=b-3).
  - (2) There shall be a course of instruction, designated and certified by the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense with the advice and assistance of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as Phase II instruction, consisting of—
    - (A) a joint professional [military](/usc/10/801.md?p=8) education curriculum taught in residence at, or offered through, the Joint Forces Staff College or a [senior level service school](/usc/10/2151.md?p=b-1) that has been designated and certified by the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense as a joint professional [military](/usc/10/801.md?p=8) education institution; or
    - (B) a senior level service course of at least ten months that has been designated and certified by the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense as a joint professional [military](/usc/10/801.md?p=8) education course.
  - (3) There shall be a course of instruction, designated and certified by the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense with the advice and assistance of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as the Capstone course, for [officers](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-1) selected for promotion to the [grade](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-7) of brigadier general or, in the case of the Navy, rear admiral (lower half) and offered in accordance with [section 2153 of this title](/usc/10/2153.md).
- (b) **Sequenced Approach.—** The [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) shall require the sequencing of joint professional [military](/usc/10/801.md?p=8) education so that the standard sequence of assignments for such education requires an [officer](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-1) to complete Phase I instruction before proceeding to Phase II instruction, as provided in [section 2155(a) of this title](/usc/10/2155.md?p=a).
- (c) **Distance Education.—**
  - (1) Any distance education [program](/usc/10/2101.md?p=1) offered to satisfy Phase I or Phase II instruction under paragraph [(1)](#a-1) or [(2)](#a-2) of subsection (a) shall include a pathway for a student who is a member of a [reserve](/usc/10/101.md?p=c-6) [component](/usc/10/3011.md?p=13) to fully complete the course of instruction asynchronously and while physically separated from the course instructors and without any in-[person](/usc/10/2700.md?p=2) attendance required to graduate from such [program](/usc/10/2101.md?p=1).
  - (2) In this subsection, the term “distance education” has the meaning given such term in section 103 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ([20 U.S.C. 1003](/usc/20/1003.md)).

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 108–375, div. A, title V, § 532(a)(2), Oct. 28, 2004, 118 Stat. 1898; amended Pub. L. 112–81, div. A, title V, § 552(a)(1), Dec. 31, 2011, 125 Stat. 1412; Pub. L. 113–291, div. A, title V, § 506, Dec. 19, 2014, 128 Stat. 3356; Pub. L. 114–92, div. A, title V, § 554, Nov. 25, 2015, 129 Stat. 824; Pub. L. 118–159, div. A, title V, § 555, Dec. 23, 2024, 138 Stat. 1896; Pub. L. 119–60, div. A, title V, § 553, Dec. 18, 2025, 139 Stat. 877.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2025—Subsec. (c)(1). Pub. L. 119–60 inserted “asynchronously and” after “course of instruction”.

2024—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 118–159 added subsec. (c).

2015—Subsec. (a)(2)(A). Pub. L. 114–92 inserted “, or offered through,” after “taught in residence at”.

2014—Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 113–291 substituted “consisting of—” for “consisting of a joint professional military education curriculum taught in residence at—” in introductory provisions, added subpars. (A) and (B), and struck out former subpars. (A) and (B) which read as follows:

“(A) the Joint Forces Staff College; or

“(B) a senior level service school that has been designated and certified by the Secretary of Defense as a joint professional military education institution.”

2011—Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 112–81 inserted “or at a joint intermediate level school” before period at end.