---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 8634"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "8634"
heading: "Submarine safety programs: participation of NATO naval personnel"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/8634"
units:
  - "Subtitle C — Navy and Marine Corps"
  - "Part IV — General Administration"
  - "Chapter 861 — Secretary of the Navy: Miscellaneous Powers and Duties"
---

# §8634. Submarine safety programs: participation of NATO naval personnel

- (a) **Acceptance of Assignment of Foreign Naval Personnel.—** In order to facilitate the development, standardization, and interoperability of submarine vessel safety and rescue systems and procedures, the [Secretary](/usc/10/8720.md?p=4) of the [Navy](/usc/10/8001.md?p=a-1) may conduct a program beginning on or after the date of the enactment of the [National Defense](/usc/10/8720.md?p=1) Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 under which members of the naval service of any of the member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization may be assigned to [United States](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-1) commands to work on such systems and procedures.
- (b) **Reciprocity Not Required.—** The authority under [subsection (a)](#a) is not an exchange program. Reciprocal assignments of members of the [Navy](/usc/10/8001.md?p=a-1) to the naval service of a foreign country is not a condition for the exercise of such authority.
- (c) **Costs for Foreign Personnel.—**
  - (1) The [United States](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-1) may not [pay](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-15) the following costs for a member of a foreign naval service sent to the [United States](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-1) under the program authorized by this section:
    - (A) Salary.
    - (B) Per diem.
    - (C) Cost of living.
    - (D) Travel costs.
    - (E) Cost of language or other training.
    - (F) Other costs.
  - (2) [Paragraph (1)](#c-1) does not apply to the following costs, which may be paid by the [United States](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-1):
    - (A) The cost of temporary duty directed by the [Secretary](/usc/10/8720.md?p=4) of the [Navy](/usc/10/8001.md?p=a-1) or an [officer](/usc/10/8001.md?p=a-5) of the [Navy](/usc/10/8001.md?p=a-1) authorized to do so.
    - (B) The cost of training programs conducted to familiarize, orient, or certify members of foreign naval services regarding unique aspects of their assignments.
    - (C) Costs incident to the use of the facilities of the [Navy](/usc/10/8001.md?p=a-1) in the performance of assigned duties.
- (d) **Relationship to Other Authority.—** The provisions of this section shall apply in the exercise of any authority of the [Secretary](/usc/10/8720.md?p=4) of the [Navy](/usc/10/8001.md?p=a-1) to enter into an agreement with the government of a foreign country, subject to the concurrence of the Secretary of State, to provide for the assignment of members of the naval service of the foreign country to a [Navy](/usc/10/8001.md?p=a-1) submarine safety program. The [Secretary](/usc/10/8720.md?p=4) of the [Navy](/usc/10/8001.md?p=a-1) may prescribe regulations for the application of this section in the exercise of such authority.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 108–375, div. A, title XII, § 1223(a), Oct. 28, 2004, 118 Stat. 2089, § 7234; renumbered § 8634, Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title VIII, § 807(d)(1), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 1836; amended Pub. L. 118–31, div. A, title XII, § 1248, Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 464.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### References in Text

The date of the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, referred to in subsec. (a), is the date of enactment of Pub. L. 118–31, which was approved Dec. 22, 2023.

### Prior Provisions

A prior section 8634, act Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 532; Pub. L. 101–510, div. A, title III, § 327(c), Nov. 5, 1990, 104 Stat. 1532, generally prohibited Air Force band from being paid for performance outside air base, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 110–181, div. A, title V, § 590(b)(1), Jan. 28, 2008, 122 Stat. 138. See section 974 of this title.

### Amendments

2023—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 118–31, § 1248(b), substituted “the Secretary of the Navy may conduct a program beginning on or after the date of the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024” for “the Secretary of the Navy may conduct a program”.

Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 118–31, § 1248(a), struck out subsec. (e). Text read as follows: “The Secretary of the Navy may not accept the assignment of a member of the naval service of a foreign country under this section after September 30, 2008.”

2018—Pub. L. 115–232 renumbered section 7234 of this title as this section.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 2018 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 115–232 effective Feb. 1, 2019, with provision for the coordination of amendments and special rule for certain redesignations, see section 800 of Pub. L. 115–232, set out as a note preceding section 3001 of this title.