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10 USC § 932 - Art. 132. Retaliation 

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t10/s932"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_legal_evidence"
title: "10 USC § 932 - Art. 132. Retaliation"
title_number: 10
title_name: "ARMED FORCES"
section_number: "932"
section_name: "Art. 132. Retaliation"
chapter_number: 47
chapter_name: "UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE"
subchapter_number: "X"
subchapter_name: "PUNITIVE ARTICLES"
part_number: "II"
part_name: "PERSONNEL"
positive_law: true
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(Added Pub. L. 114–328, div. E, title LX, § 5450, Dec. 23, 2016, 130 Stat. 2957; amended Pub. L. 115–91, div. A, title X, § 1081(c)(1)(Q), Dec. 12, 2017, 131 Stat. 1599.)"
---

# § 932. Art. 132. Retaliation

**(a)** **In General.—** Any person subject to this chapter who, with the intent to retaliate against any person for reporting or planning to report a criminal offense, or making or planning to make a protected communication, or with the intent to discourage any person from reporting a criminal offense or making or planning to make a protected communication—

shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

**(1)** wrongfully takes or threatens to take an adverse personnel action against any person; or

**(2)** wrongfully withholds or threatens to withhold a favorable personnel action with respect to any person;

**(b)** **Definitions.—** In this section:

**(1)** The term “protected communication” means the following:

**(A)** A lawful communication to a Member of Congress or an Inspector General.

**(B)** A communication to a covered individual or organization in which a member of the armed forces complains of, or discloses information that the member reasonably believes constitutes evidence of, any of the following:

**(i)** A violation of law or regulation, including a law or regulation prohibiting sexual harassment or unlawful discrimination.

**(ii)** Gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.

**(2)** The term “Inspector General” has the meaning given that term in section 1034(j) of this title.

**(3)** The term “covered individual or organization” means any recipient of a communication specified in clauses (i) through (v) of section 1034(b)(1)(B) of this title.

**(4)** The term “unlawful discrimination” means discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

---

**Source Credit**: (Added Pub. L. 114–328, div. E, title LX, § 5450, Dec. 23, 2016, 130 Stat. 2957; amended Pub. L. 115–91, div. A, title X, § 1081(c)(1)(Q), Dec. 12, 2017, 131 Stat. 1599.)

## Editorial Notes

### Prior Provisions

A prior section 932 was renumbered .

### Amendments

2017—Subsec. (b)(2).  substituted “section 1034(j)” for “section 1034(h)”.

## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 2017 Amendment

Amendment by  effective immediately after the amendments made by div. E (§§ 5001–5542) of  take effect as provided for in section 5542 of that Act ( note), see , set out as a note under .

### Effective Date

Section effective on , as designated by the President, with implementing regulations and provisions relating to applicability to various situations, see  and Ex. Ord. No. 13825, set out as notes under .