Executive Order 9575—Declaring the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service to Be a Military Service and Prescribing Regulations Therefor

By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 216 of the Public Health Service Act, approved July 1, 1944, 58 Stat. 691; Title I of the First War Powers Act, approved December 1, 1941, 55 Stat. 838; and as President of the United States and Commander in Chief, I hereby declare the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service to be a military service and a branch of the land and naval forces of the United States during the period of the present war. The commissioned corps of the Public Health Service during such period shall be subject to the Articles for the Government of the Navy to the extent prescribed in the following regulations:

1. The Articles for the Government of the Navy are hereby adapted to apply to officers of the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service in the same manner and to the same extent as they apply to commissioned officers of the Navy under like circumstances.

2. Any member of the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service who violates any provision of the Articles for the Government of the Navy shall be subject to trial and punishment as prescribed therein. The authority conferred by the Articles for the Government of the Navy upon the Secretary of the Navy with respect to the convening of general courts-martial and courts of inquiry, the review of their proceedings and the confirmation, remission, mitigation, and execution of sentences of general courts-martial shall be vested in the Federal Security Administrator, and the authority conferred by law for such purposes upon the commander in chief of a fleet or squadron and other officers of the Navy shall be vested in the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. The authority to convene a general courts-martial or court of inquiry may not be delegated to any other officer of the Public Health Service.

3. The general courts-martial and courts of inquiry convened pursuant to this authority shall have the same powers and authority as other general courts-martial and courts of inquiry under the Articles for the Government of the Navy. The provision of Article 7 thereof shall apply in carrying out sentences of imprisonment and hard labor.

4. Commissioned officers of the Public Health Service now or hereafter detailed for duty with the Army, Navy, or Coast Guard shall be subject to the laws for the government of the service to which detailed as now prescribed by law. In the initiation, prosecution, and completion of disciplinary action, including remission or mitigation of punishments for any offense which has been or may be committed by any commissioned officer of the Public Health Service while detailed for duty with the Army, Navy, or Coast Guard, the jurisdiction of the person of the offender at the various stages of such action: Provided, That any punishment imposed and executed in accordance with the provisions of this paragraph shall not exceed that to which the offender was liable at the time of the commission of the offense.

5. Naval Courts and Boards, 1937 and modifications or revisions thereof, shall govern the conduct of general courts-martial and courts of inquiry in the Public Health Service.

6. This order shall be published in the FEDERAL REGISTER and shall be effective on and after the thirtieth day following the date of such publication.

HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE,

June 21, 1945