§ 663. Joint duty assignments after completion of joint professional military education
(a)
Joint Qualified Officers.—
The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that each officer designated as a joint qualified officer who graduates from a school within the National Defense University specified in subsection (c) shall be assigned to a joint duty assignment for that officer’s next duty assignment after such graduation (unless the officer receives a waiver of that requirement by the Secretary in an individual case).
(b)
Other Officers.—
(1)
The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that a high proportion (which shall be greater than 50 percent) of the officers graduating from a school within the National Defense University specified in subsection (c) who are not designated as a joint qualified officer shall receive assignments to a joint duty assignment as their next duty assignment after such graduation or, to the extent authorized in paragraph (2), as their second duty assignment after such graduation.
(2)
The Secretary may, if the Secretary determines that it is necessary to do so for the efficient management of officer personnel, establish procedures to allow up to one-half of the officers subject to the joint duty assignment requirement in paragraph (1) to be assigned to a joint duty assignment as their second (rather than first) assignment after such graduation from a school referred to in paragraph (1).
(c)
Covered Schools Within the National Defense University.—
For purposes of this section, a school within the National Defense University specified in this subsection is one of the following: