# § 1161. Commissioned officers: limitations on dismissal
**(a)** No commissioned officer may be dismissed from any armed force except—
**(1)** by sentence of a general court-martial;
**(2)** in commutation of a sentence of a general court-martial; or
**(3)** in time of war, by order of the President.
**(b)** The President or the Secretary of Defense, or in the case of a commissioned officer of the Coast Guard, the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating when it is not operating in the Navy, may drop from the rolls of any armed force any commissioned officer (1) who has been absent without authority for at least three months, (2) who may be separated under section 1167 of this title by reason of a sentence to confinement adjudged by a court-martial, or (3) who is sentenced to confinement in a Federal or State penitentiary or correctional institution after having been found guilty of an offense by a court other than a court-martial or other military court, and whose sentence has become final.
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**Source Credit**: (Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 89; Pub. L. 104–106, div. A, title V, § 563(b)(1), Feb. 10, 1996, 110 Stat. 325; Pub. L. 104–201, div. A, title X, § 1074(a)(5), Sept. 23, 1996, 110 Stat. 2658; Pub. L. 114–328, div. A, title V, § 507, Dec. 23, 2016, 130 Stat. 2109.)
| Revised section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1161(a) | 50:739 (words before semicolon, less applicability to Navy and Marine Corps warrant officers). | May 5, 1950, ch. 169, § 10 (less applicability to Navy and Marine Corps warrant officers), 64 Stat. 146. |
| 1161(b) | 50:739 (less words before semicolon, less applicability to Navy and Marine Corps warrant officers). | |
In subsections (a) and (b), the word “commissioned” is inserted since, for the Army and the Air Force, the term “officer” is intended to have the same meaning in 50:739 as it has in the Uniform Code of Military Justice (article 4). For Navy warrant officers see .
In subsection (b), the words “from his place of duty” are omitted as surplusage. The words “at least” are substituted for the words “or more”. The words “by a court other than a court-martial or other military court” are substituted for the words “by the civil authorities”.
## Editorial Notes
### Amendments
2016—Subsec. (b). inserted “or the Secretary of Defense, or in the case of a commissioned officer of the Coast Guard, the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating when it is not operating in the Navy,” after “President”.
1996—Subsec. (b). substituted “section 1167” for “section 1178” in par. (2).
struck out “or” after “three months,”, added par. (2), and redesignated former par. (2) as (3).
## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
### Restoration of Retired Pay to Officers Dropped From Rolls After December 31, 1954 and Before August 25, 1958
> **“Sec. 2.**
>
> A former retired officer covered by this Act is subject to the penal, prohibitory, and restrictive provisions of law applicable to the pay and civil employment of retired officers of the Armed Forces and is not entitled to any other benefit provided by law or regulation for retired officers of the Armed Forces. After the date of enactment of this Act [Aug. 25, 1958], such a former retired officer may, in the discretion of the President, have his entitlement to retired or retirement pay under this Act terminated for any reason for which any retired officer may be dismissed from, or dropped from the rolls of, any Armed Force.
>
> **“Sec. 3.**
>
> Appropriations available for the payment of retired pay to members of the Armed Forces are available for payments under this Act.”
, , , provided: