Military Retirees Employment with a Foreign Country Government

The U.S. Constitution has a provision (the last paragraph of Section 9 of Article I) that prohibits Federal Government officials from receiving compensation from foreign governments without the consent of Congress. It reads:

"And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."

This has been interpreted to include retirees and inactive duty reservists of the Uniformed Services that are employed either directly by foreign governments or indirectly by companies, corporations, or other instrumentalities owned or controlled by foreign governments, including work in a overseas corporation or entity that is under contract to a foreign government. Two Federal laws have been passed that grants blanket Congressional approval on the condition that the retiree/reservist get the permission of the Secretary concerned (in the CG's case, SECDHS) and the Secretary of State (DoS). One statute covers civil employment by foreign governments (title 37 USC 908) and another is for foreign military service (title 10 USC 1066). In all cases involving CG retirees we have only worked through the provisions for civil employment by foreign governments. CG-1222/CG-131 exercises the delegated Secretarial authority for COMDT.

The administrative requirement for CG personnel to gain approval for foreign government approval is in PERSMAN Chapters 12.C.18.F and 16.L. Member sends letter to Commandant (CG-1222) (active duty & RET-1 reserve retirees) or Commandant (CG-131) (inactive duty & RET-2 reservists) to request approval to work for a foreign government. The letter must contain the following information:

*   Country of Foreign Employment;
*   Name of company, and relationship of company to the foreign government;
*   Statement whether foreign citizenship is a condition of employment (Is it required? Is it being considered?);
*   Statement whether an oath of allegiance to the foreign government required;
*   Job title and brief description of duties;
*   Anticipated duration of employment;
*   Statement whether this employment might discredit USA;
*   Rank at, and date of, retirement;
*   SSN and DOB.

Upon receipt of letter CG-1222 (CG-131 in case of inactive duty reservist) coordinates review of each request by DCO-I & CG-0944; writes a cover letter, and e-mails scanned request to DoS' Foreign Employment Office. DoS approves or denies the request and CG-1222/CG-131 sends answer back to the member.

**If approval is denied, member irrevocably loses entitlement to Retired Pay & benefits for any period employed by the foreign government for which employment approval was sought. Failure to obtain approval prior to employment by a foreign government also results in irrevocable loss of Retired Pay & benefits for period employed by a foreign government until approval is granted.**

In the future, CWO Joey Brown (202-475-5394) will be the POC for retiree applications for permission to accept foreign civil employment under 37 USC 908 (also foreign military employment under 10 USC 1066).