THE UNIVERSITY OF THE ARMY 1775
Headquarters
Department of the Army
Washington, DC
22 June 2025

*Army Regulation 15-6

Effective 22 June 2025

Boards, Commissions, and Committees

Procedures for Preliminary Inquiries, Administrative Investigations, and Boards of Officers

By Order of the Secretary of the Army:

RANDY A. GEORGE
General, United States Army
Chief of Staff

MARK F. AVERILL
Administrative Assistant to the
Secretary of the Army

History. This publication is a mandated revision. The portions affected by this mandated revision are listed in the summary of change.

Authorities. The authorities for this regulation are 10 USCUSCUnited States Code 1561, DoDI 1020.03, DoDI 1020.04, Army Directive 2022–13, Army Directive 2023–03, and Army Directive 2025–07.

Applicability. This regulation applies to the Regular Army, the Army National Guard/Army National Guard of the United States, and U.S. Army Reserves. This regulation also applies to Department of the Army Civilians.

Proponent and exception authority. The proponent of this regulation is The Judge Advocate General. The proponent has the authority to approve exceptions and waivers to this regulation that are consistent with controlling laws or regulations. The proponent has delegated exception and waiver approval and disapproval authority to the Office of The Judge Advocate General's Director of Military Law and the Office of The Judge Advocate General Administrative Law Division Chief. Activities may request a waiver to this regulation by providing justification that includes a full analysis of the expected benefits and must include formal review by the activity's servicing legal office. All waiver requests will be endorsed by the commander or senior leader of the requesting activity and forwarded through their higher headquarters to the policy proponent. Refer to AR 25–30 for specific requirements.

Army internal control process. This regulation contains internal control provisions in accordance with AR 11–2 and identifies key internal controls that must be evaluated (appendix J).

Suggested improvements. Users are invited to send comments and suggested improvements on DA FormDA FormDepartment of the Army form 2028 (Recommended Changes to Publications and Blank Forms) directly to usarmy.pentagon.hqda-otjag.list.task-adlaw@army.mil.

Committee management approval. AR 15–39 requires the proponent to justify establishing/continuing committee(s), coordinate draft publications, and coordinate changes in committee status with the U.S. Army Special Programs Directorate at email usarmy.pentagon.hqda-hsa.mbx.committee-management@army.mil. Further, if it is determined that an established "group" identified within this regulation later takes on the characteristics of a committee as found in the AR 15–39, then the proponent will follow all AR 15–39 requirements for establishing and continuing the group as a committee.

Distribution. This regulation is available in electronic media only and is intended for the Regular Army, the Army National Guard/Army National Guard of the United States, and the U.S. Army Reserve.

*This regulation supersedes AR 15-6, dated 1 April 2016.

AR 15-6 • 22 June 2025

UNCLASSIFIED

This appendix applies to the administrative investigation checklist see table C – 1.

The following table is a general release guide to assist legal offices with their analysis for releas-ing an administrative investigation. Each request must be assessed case-by-case, considering the facts of the situation and procedural posture of the investigation. Legal offices should also refer to the specific regulation prescribing procedures for the matter (for example, reviewing AR 600 – 52 for sexual harassment/assault response and prevention matters). See table E – 1.

Adverse administrative action (DA Civilian) Removals (terminations of employment after completion of probationary or other initial service period), reductions in grade or pay, suspension for more than 14 days, or furloughs for 30 days or less for cause that will promote the efficiency of the service; an involuntary resignation or retirement is considered to be a removal (see 5 USCUSCUnited States Code 7511 – 5 USCUSCUnited States Code 7514 and 5 Code of Federal Regulations 752 and AR 690 – 752).

Adverse administrative action (military) Adverse action taken by appropriate military authority against an individual other than actions taken pur- suant to the UCMJUCMJUniformed Code of Military Justice or MCM.

Adverse information A substantiated adverse finding or conclusion from an officially documented investigation or inquiry or any other credible information of an adverse nature. To be credible, the information must be resolved and supported by a preponderance of the evidence. To be adverse, the information must be derogatory, unfa- vorable, or of a nature that reflects clearly unacceptable conduct, integrity or judgment on the part of the individual. The following types of information, even though credible, are not considered adverse: motor vehicle violations that did not require a court appearance; minor infractions without negative effect on an individual or the good order and discipline of the organization that were not identified as a result of sub- stantiated findings or conclusions from an officially documented investigation or did not result in more than a non-punitive rehabilitative counseling administered by a superior to a subordinate. Information pre- viously considered by the Senate pursuant to a prior appointment of the officer. Information attributed to an individual 10 or more years before the date of the personnel action under consideration, except for substantiated conduct, any single act of which, if tried by court-martial, could have resulted in the imposi- tion of a punitive discharge and confinement for more than 1 year. The date of the substantiated adverse finding or conclusion from an officially documented investigation or inquiry is used to establish the time, not the date of the incident (see DoDI 1320.04).

Collateral investigation An investigation performed under investigatory procedures specified in other Army regulations. While col- lateral investigations may address some of the same issues as AR 15 – 6 investigations, they are used for other purposes.

Combatant commander A commander of one of the unified or specified combatant commands established by the President (see JP 3 – 0).

Complex, serious, and/or high-profile case An incident being investigated that involves a death or serious bodily injury; may result in adverse admin- istrative or disciplinary action; may result in substantive changes in Army policies or procedures; may be of significant public, media, or Congressional interest; or may be of interest to senior DA or DoD officials. Examples of high-profile cases include, but are not limited to, suicides, friendly-fire incidents, incidents of abuse of a special trust relationship (for example, chaplains, doctors, cadre, and guards), incidents involv- ing extremist motives, and incidents involving high ranking officers, noncommissioned officers and civil- ians (see AR 385 – 10, AR 360 – 1, and AR 600 – 92).

Credible evidence and/or information Evidence attributable or corroborated information, in any form, disclosed to or obtained by an appointing authority or investigative authority that–considering the original source, the nature of the information, and the totality of the circumstances–is sufficient to raise a question of fact that would cause a reasonable re- sponsible appointing authority or investigative authority under similar circumstances to inquire further. In- formation may be credible, even though not initially supported by a preponderance of the evidence. How- ever, to be credible, the information must be based on more than mere speculation and not clearly contra- dicted by known and material facts. To be attributable, the appointing authority or investigative authority must be able to authenticate the evidence or information. To be actionable, the original source(s) of infor- mation should be reasonably valid or verifiable.

Criminal investigation An investigation into reported or apparent violations of law undertaken for purposes that include collecting evidence to support potential prosecution (see DoDI 5505.07).

Department of the Army Civilian An individual meeting the definition of “employee” under 5 USCUSCUnited States Code 2105, as well as employees of DA nonap- propriated funds instrumentalities paid for from nonappropriated funds. This includes DA Civilian employ- ees filling full-time, part-time, intermittent, or on-call positions. Excludes dual status National Guard and Reserve technicians and contractor employees (see AR 690 – 11).

Friendly fire A circumstance in which authorized members of U.S. or friendly military forces, U.S. or friendly official government employees, U.S. DoD or friendly nation contractor personnel, and nongovernmental organi- zations or private volunteer organizations, who, while accompanying or operating with the U.S. Armed Forces, are mistakenly or accidentally killed or wounded in action by U.S. or friendly forces actively en- gaged with an enemy or who are directing fire at a hostile force or what is thought to be a hostile force. This also includes incidents that result in only damage or destruction of U.S. or friendly nation’s military property mistakenly or accidentally damaged in action by U.S. or friendly forces actively engaged with an enemy, or who are directing fire at a hostile force or what is thought to be a hostile force (see DoDI 6055.07).

Frivolous allegation An allegation that a reasonable person knows has no merit, particularly allegations brought for an unrea- sonable purpose such as harassment.

Harmless error Also termed “technical error,” is an error that does not affect a subject’s or respondent’s substantive rights.

Legal advisor A judge advocate or DA Civilian attorney who, based on assignment or appointment, provides legal and practical advice to appointing authorities, approval authorities, investigating officers, and boards of offic- ers, regarding the appointment of preliminary inquiries, administrative investigations, and boards of offic- ers, the conduct of such proceedings, and the actions taken pursuant to such proceedings.

Military exigency An emergency situation requiring prompt or immediate action to obtain and record facts.

Personally identifiable information Information used to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity, such as name, Social Security number, date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, biometric records, home phone numbers, other demo- graphic, personnel, medical, and financial information. PII includes any information that is linked or linka- ble to a specified individual, alone, or when combined with other personal or identifying information (see DoDI 5400.11).

Preponderance of the evidence Evidence which is of greater weight or more convincing than the evidence which is offered in opposition to it; that is, evidence which shows that the fact sought to be proved is more probable than not. Prepon- derance of the evidence may not be determined by the number of witnesses, but by the greater weight of all evidence.

Respondent A designated person involved in an incident or event under investigation by a board in such a way that disciplinary action may follow, the person’s rights or privileges may be adversely affected, or the person’s reputation or professional standing may be jeopardized.

Specially trained investigating officer Consistent with 10 USCUSCUnited States Code 1561, a specially trained IO is an individual who has completed DA IG’s sexual harassment investigating officer’s training. Specially trained IOs are used to investigate formal sexual har- assment complaints filed in accordance with 10 USCUSCUnited States Code 1561.

Subject A “subject” is a person about whom some credible evidence exists to believe that the person is involved in an incident or event under investigation in such a way that disciplinary or administrative action may fol- low, the person’s rights or privileges may be adversely affected, or the person’s reputation or professional standing may be jeopardized. Although subject and suspect are often used interchangeably, the subject of an investigation may not be suspected of violating a criminal law, but rather failure to comply with a duty, obligation, regulation, or other requirement that could result in adverse administrative action.

Substantial error An error that affects a subject’s or respondent’s substantive rights or significantly impacts the outcome of the investigation or board.

Suspect A person about whom some credible information exists to believe that the person committed a particular criminal offense.

System of records A group of records under the control of an agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual, or by some identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual (see DoDI 5400.11).